


All Eyes On Me

by lbswasp



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Bobby made a deal, Caleb uses a slur, Caleb!Nick is the bad guy, Carrie Wilson takes no shit, Carrie is not the bad guy, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Friendship is Magic, Growth, M/M, Magic, Post-Season 01, Ray Adopts Everyone, Reggie gets a puppy, Revenge, The B in LGBTQ Stands for Bassist, Tori Caro is a gift to me personally as the writer of this fic, brief Caleb!Nick/Julie, brief Nick/Julie, mention of Roman Polanski, mention of forced prostitution, music is magic, past Alex/Luke mention, the author is blatantly making up the US legal system, what’s a little light shoplifting when you’re already dead?, witch!Julie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:28:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 44,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28256184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lbswasp/pseuds/lbswasp
Summary: When Carrie steals one of their songs, just like her father did, Alex comes up with a plan to get revenge.What he doesn't plan on is secrets getting revealed, magic powers being unleashed, families being reunited, friendships being forged, and accidentally upending the entire LA ghost scene.Actually getting to kiss Willie is nice though.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn/Carrie Wilson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Kayla/Reggie Peters
Comments: 104
Kudos: 140
Collections: Julie and the Phantoms Bang 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaah I finally get to release this! I've never sat on a work for so long.
> 
> Thank you so, so much to [Cama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/questionmark007/pseuds/questionmark007) for betaing this monster at the last minute, and endless thanks to my artist, [cyquor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyquor/pseuds/cyquor) for her art! I've linked it in the fic where it belongs, but also please go [HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28156803) and tell her how much you love it!

The final chord faded but the boys didn't, and Alex beamed at his bandmates as they all basked in the applause of the crowd at the _Los Feliz Spring Showcase_. It rocked, being able to be seen again.

But they still liked to disappear, keeping up the ‘hologram’ part of their act. It meant that they didn’t have to pack out their kit, which Alex particularly enjoyed. Luke and Reggie just got to unplug their guitars and wheel away their amps, but a drum kit took more shifting. Alex _really_ enjoyed that part of his ghostly powers.

They dumped their stuff back in the garage and poofed back to the school, making it back in time to see Julie take another bow and run off stage. 

Alex had to really concentrate to stay invisible, and he knew the others were having to work hard too. Ever since the Orpheum, they’d been more and more visible and solid, particularly when Julie was around. With effort, they could be invisible around Julie, but it was hard. The love she felt for them — and they for her — seemed to act as an amplifier.

Of course, they’d learned that the hard way when they’d poofed into the kitchen last week during a Molina family dinner and had to deal with a screaming Tía Victoria who _really_ hadn’t taken the news that ghosts were real calmly at all.

Reggie had had a lot of apologising to do over that one, and Ray seemed surprisingly unsurprised that his daughter’s band weren’t three hologram boys from Sweden but actually three ghost boys from his garage. Alex was pretty sure that could be blamed on Reggie too, but he wasn’t going to push it. Reggie clearly adored Ray, and after the piece of shit that was Reggie’s father, Alex was happy that his friend had someone to spend time with and look up to.

After all, that left him with more time to spend with Willie. Caleb still owned Willie’s soul, but Willie reported that the powerful ghost hadn’t been seen at the Hollywood Ghost Club since the night of their Orpheum show. Willie’s theory was that in breaking his seal they’d hurt Caleb’s power somehow, and that he was lying low and licking his wounds in the meantime. Alex wasn’t sure — Caleb didn’t seem the type to acknowledge having wounds, let alone needing time to lick them — but Willie was the older ghost. He knew more than the boys did, so they trusted him.

But even Willie didn’t know how Julie had made them more visible and solid though. And the effect was spreading — Willie was visible to lifers when he was close to Julie as well, though the only lifer Willie was solid for was Julie (that they knew of). They’d tested it out with Flynn after the kitchen incident, seeing how far from Julie Willie had to be before he disappeared from Flynn’s gaze. He’d apparently started to get fuzzy at around 40 feet, and was gone completely a few feet later, which mostly just meant that Willie had to be careful when he came to their shows, as lifers could see him and if he wasn’t paying attention when he was jumping around, he’d go straight through a lifer.

Which wasn’t something that any of them wanted to explain. Explaining things to Tía Victoria had been hard enough.

_Speak of the devil..._ Alex grinned as Willie made his way through the crowd to where the boys had poofed into the back of the hall, greeting Alex with a smile. Alex ducked his head and mumbled, fighting the urge to kiss Willie and maybe frighten the other ghost away, and Willie took his hand and leaned in to him.

“You were awesome up there,” Willie said.

“Thanks,” Alex blushed. “But I was just doing my normal thing, really. The others were the ones on fire.”

“Hey, own your awesomeness!” said Reggie, nudging Alex’s other side.

“Julie!” said Luke, his face lighting up as their fourth — and sole living — bandmate slipped in through the doors to join them, having circled around through the hallways of the school after getting off stage the usual way. Alex watched as Luke reached out to Julie and then stopped part way there, the word “boundaries!” visibly running through his head and making him look like a kicked puppy.

Alex wasn’t sure how much longer those boundaries would last now that they could touch Julie and Julie could touch them in return, but he supposed that touch was just one of the issues Julie and Luke would have to negotiate if they did want to have a relationship.

“And now, for the final act of our Spring Showcase, _Dirty Candy_!” Mrs. Harrison announced, and Reggie cheered.

“What?” he said when Julie and Luke looked at him. “They’re cute!”

“They do have sweet moves,” Alex agreed, and Reggie gave him a high five.

Only this time, instead of five girls in pastel outfits trotting out onto stage, there was just one girl carrying an acoustic guitar.

Her pink wig was nowhere in sight and when Alex craned his head he could see the other Dirty Candy girls, in full costume, standing in the wings and looking furious.

“Last minute change of plans,” Carrie said as a stagehand trailed behind her with a stool and a microphone. “I’m flying solo today,” she said with a sweet smile that Alex didn’t buy for a second. “This song was written for me by someone special. It’s called _Wake Up_.”

Alex began to get a bad feeling about this, a feeling that only intensified when Carrie began to pick out a simple melody on her guitar.

A melody that Alex had heard before, played with more skill on a piano in a studio that glowed with morning sunlight.

_Here's the one thing I want you to know  
You got someplace to go  
Life's a test, yes  
But you go toe to toe  
You don't give up, no, you grow  
_

* * *

Julie thought she’d known heartbreak and sadness before — when her Mom died, when she’d thought the boys had crossed over — but this. This was a certain kind of agony she’d never felt before.

Her mom’s song had been stolen, and was being performed by someone that Julie used to consider a friend.

She wanted to run, and hide, and scream, and burn the world down, but she didn’t want to cause a scene and so she stood there, frozen, until Luke swept her into his arms and held her tight.

The part of her brain that wasn’t howling with betrayal took a moment to appreciate how nice Luke smelt, and how strong his arms were. In her experience, teenage boys (and sometimes even her little brother) were generally shrouded in a cloud of terrible deodorant, but Luke...Luke smelt like comfort, and rain on a spring evening, and also yes, just a little bit of sweat. Julie burrowed in closer, wanting to experience it more, and Luke’s arms tightened around her and a part of Julie _melted_. She wanted to feel like this again, though without the soul-wrenching feeling of betrayal.

“Come on Jules, you don’t have to stay for this,” Luke whispered in her ear. “Let’s go.”

“No,” she mumbled, turning in his arms so she could face the stage. “I need to see this. I need to see what she does to my mom’s song.”

“Like father, like daughter,” Reggie mumbled, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “We can haunt her too if you like.”

Julie let out a small hiccuping laugh. “Thanks, Reggie.”

Carrie carefully made her way through a short guitar solo that wasn’t in the original song— Julie knew the guitar had never been Carrie’s strong point, much to Trevor’s disappointment, but she was capable enough. Luke was a much better guitar player, and Julie wondered what it would be like to hear him play her mother’s song for her. She was sure it would be better than this.

Getting her teeth literally pulled would probably be better than this.

After what felt like an eternity the song ended. Carrie’s singing was certainly better than her guitar playing, but even this pared back performance without all the flash of a _Dirty Candy_ routine reminded Julie why Carrie’s place in the music program had never been in doubt. Carrie _was_ talented, and the Los Feliz crowd gave her an enthusiastic round of applause. Finally, after some final comments from Principal Lessa the showcase was over.

“Come on, Jules,” Luke repeated, tugging on her arm, and this time Julie let her phantom lead her away.

* * *

“How’d Carrie even get the song?” Reggie asked, carefully making Julie the most elaborate sundae he could manage in the Molina’s kitchen.

Though they were more solid now, they still couldn’t eat lifer food, a fact that had crushed Reggie when he’d found out. Reggie compensated by feeding Julie (and Carlos) all the foods that he couldn’t eat himself. 

“I don’t know,” Julie said, tucked into Luke’s side on the couch. He’d barely let her go since they’d left the hall and Julie wondered if he was the only thing that was stopping her from bawling uncontrollably in a ball of betrayal. “She hasn’t been here for ages.”

But someone else had been here recently. “...Nick,” she realised. “It had to have been Nick.”

* * *

#### After the Orpheum

Julie opened the door. “Hi! Nick!” she said. 

Her heart still fluttered every time she saw Nick. _Stupid, treacherous heart,_ she thought. _You can’t like both Nick and Luke!_ But even as she thought it, she knew it to be a lie. She didn’t like Nick anymore, not really. She’d realised that the day they’d had that performance in dance class and she’d full-on hallucinated an entire _High School Musical_ -esque duet between her and Luke. And now that she could touch Luke...she’d thought her crush had fully transitioned over to her bandmate, but it seemed that her heart hadn’t quite got the memo yet.

He handed her flowers with a weird look on his face, and Julie thanked him for them. He’d chosen purple paper to wrap them in. Purple was her favourite colour. 

She looked back up at him and his goofy, sweet Nick smile was back in place. “Come in,” she said, leading him into the kitchen where her dad was helping Carlos with his homework.

“Dad, this is Nick, from school.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Molina,” Nick said, shaking her dad’s hand. 

“You look familiar, son,” her dad said, and Julie laughed from where she was getting a vase for the flowers down from a cabinet. 

“He was here for the garage concert the Phantoms and I did, remember? Also, he’s the captain of the lacrosse team — you’ve probably seen him in the newsletters from the school.”

“We’re just the JV team,” Nick hurried to clarify. “And we’re not that good.”

“I’m sure you’re better than you think,” her dad said kindly, and behind his back, Carlos pulled a face at Julie.

“No, really, we’re not that good. We lost to Burbank. Burbank!”

Her dad looked lost. “I have no idea what that means.”

Nick shrugged. “I dunno either, but Coach hates them. Anyway, Julie, could we talk about our next assignment? Because I’m lost.”

“Sure,” she said. “Let’s go up to my room.”

“Why don’t you talk about it in the lounge?” her dad said, looking pointedly over to the couch that was clearly visible from the dining table.

“Dad!” Julie cried and glared at her dad.

He relented after a few seconds. “Well, okay, you can go upstairs. But the door stays open!”

She rolled her eyes at him and led Nick up the stairs, wanting to get away before her dad changed his mind.

Nick hesitated on the threshold of her room, and Julie reached over to grab his wrist. “Don’t worry, my dad’s not that bad.”

Nick looked doubtful, but let her tug him into her space. She thought she felt him shudder slightly, but when he looked at him his usual smile was on her face and she figured she must have imagined it.

In her room she carefully arranged the flowers on her vanity, smiling up at where she’d neatly hung the music for _Wake Up_. Her dad had surprised her with it that morning, as a present to celebrate opening for _Panic!_ at the Orpheum the night before.

(She was still mildly jealous she hadn’t gotten to meet Brendon Urie, being too busy worrying about her boys to have sushi with him like Flynn had, but she’d been able to watch their show from the wings and as good as she knew she and her Phantoms were, there was a world of difference between some talented teenagers and a rock band with years of touring experience under their belt. It had just made her determined to work harder to get to that level.)

Nick was looking curiously around his room, but kept his hands in his pockets and unlike Luke, hadn’t narrowed in on her dream box immediately, and Julie found herself smiling at him. _He really is so sweet,_ she thought as she sat on the window seat. 

“Is that one of your songs?” he asked, nodding at the music, and Julie shook her head.

“No, it’s one of my mom’s. She wrote it for me before, well…” she trailed off, and wanted to change the subject before she got too sad. Nick was in the music program. He knew what had happened. “So. More dancing.”

Nick ran his hand through his hair and joined her. “Yeah, more dancing.” 

Their History teacher had gotten word of the combined Dance-and-Lacrosse class, and had decided to work it into their current unit on American culture. Those in the combined Dance-and-Lacrosse class had to research a form of American dance and perform a piece for the class as well as write an essay, while those who weren’t in the Dance-and-Lacrosse class had to research and recreate a recipe.

Reggie had pouted for a good 10 minutes when he’d learned about that assignment, jealous that you could now get school credit for making gumbo or apple pie.

“Okay, so there’s a lot of dances we can choose from,” Julie said, pulling her laptop over. “We could do something modern, like hip hop?”

Nick scrunched his nose. “I’m not sure about that. I don’t really feel like I could pull that off. I’m a bit…”

“Like a baby giraffe on ice?” Julie teased, and he grinned.

“I was going to say _white_ , but yeah, baby giraffe works.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon researching different dances on YouTube.

“Oh, I didn’t know there was such a thing as a Cake Walk dance. Huh,” Julie said at one point when they were far down the internet rabbit hole.

“Yeah, it looks weird,” Nick said. “I’m not sure we can pull it off. I think we need something more...interesting.”

“This? From a boy with two left feet?”

“Watch it, Molina. I may surprise you.”

In the end, they settled on the Charleston, mostly because there were enough tutorial videos that they thought they could handle it.

Nick declined Ray’s offer to stay for dinner, saying his parents expected him home, and he gave Julie a gentle hug before he left. “Thanks, Julie. I might not fail this class after all. And I meant what I said earlier — you guys were amazing last night. Tell your Phantoms I said hi, okay?”

* * *

To Julie’s surprise, Nick turned out to be actually pretty good at the Charleston. Something about the slightly jerky movements really worked for him, and their rehearsal sessions after school were a lot of fun.

Julie enjoyed hanging out with Nick — he was kind, and funny, and most importantly, solid all the time. She felt so _fickle_ , having turned down his offer of a date for Luke, but when she mentioned that to Flynn when she was sleeping over at Flynn’s house her bestie looked at her as if she’d grown a second head. 

“You’ve had a crush on that boy for _years_. Luke is made of air, Julie! Cute air, but still. Air. I don’t care how much chemistry you guys have on stage together, you aren’t on stage right now. This is real life. As your Lifelong Best Friend and Confidant, I am telling you — no, ordering you! — that if Nick asks you out again, you have to say yes. _You can’t date air_ , Jules. Air can’t take you bowling, or kiss you goodnight, or meet your dad and be gently but sincerely threatened by him.”

“But Luke’s solid now! Most of the time.”

“Solid enough to make it through a date? Solid enough to meet your dad? Shake his hand and face all his stupid posturing about his only daughter going out on a date? And how are you going to explain to your dad that your hologram guitarist from Sweden is in LA, doesn’t have a Swedish accent, and wants to take you on a date?” Flynn ticked each point off on her fingers as she made them, and Julie pulled a face.

“You know a lot of people from Sweden speak English with an American accent. They learn it from watching TV.”

Flynn had looked at her as if she was mad, and Julie felt herself start to blush. “I looked it up, okay?” she mumbled. “In case, well, the boys were ever here, and we had to explain their lack of accent. I tried to get them to use Duolingo to learn some Swedish just in case, but so far all that’s stuck is Reggie can say ‘Jag är en trollkarl’, which apparently means ‘I’m a wizard’.”

Flynn had giggled delightedly at that, but refused to drop the subject. “Seriously Molina, you can’t pine over cute air for the rest of your life. The next time a real, living, breathing human boy asks you out, you say yes. Please. For me.”

And so, after their demonstration of the Charleston when Nick danced as if he wasn’t even touching the ground, Nick asked Julie out again. This time she said yes.

* * *

Julie hadn’t been to the arcade in _ages_ , and she had to admit it was pretty fun. They were both equally useless at the driving games, and after realising that they were both useless they started trying to run each other’s virtual cars off the road rather than actually winning, and Nick helped Julie with her aim for skeeball, meaning she actually won some tokens on that one. She used them to buy a little bear which she promptly gifted to Nick with a smirk.

“Aren’t I the one who’s meant to be buying you a bear with my winnings?” he teased, and Julie just laughed.

“It’s 2020, Nick. Get woke,” she responded, mimicking something she’d heard her boys tease each other with, and giggled as Nick nodded then Very Seriously dubbed the bear ‘Sir California Sushi Roll the Fourth’.

Nick dragged her to _Dance Dance Revolution_ , claiming that he wanted to see her dance skills when she didn’t have to dumb them down for him, and cheered her on as the machine sped up to the point where even she couldn’t keep up.

“Man, not even Flynn can keep up with DDR once it gets like that,” Julie said as she gulped the soda Nick bought her after that.

“Carrie could,” Nick said with a shrug, then immediately looked guilty.

An awkward silence fell between them, Nick looking at his shoes and Julie frantically casting her eyes around the arcade for something to distract them.

“Ooh, they have Whack-a-Mole!” she said, wincing at the overly bright tone of her voice, but determinedly dragging Nick over to the machine.

“Here,” she said, pushing the mallet into Nick’s hands. “You whack first.”

It turned out that while Nick might have two left feet when it came to dance, his hand-eye coordination was pretty spot on and he easily beat the game.

When it was Julie’s turn she wasn’t quite so skilled, and soon discarded the mallet to just smack the moles with her hands and occasionally her whole arm, trying not only to get a decent score but also to make Nick laugh.

She didn’t get a decent score, but she did get Nick to laugh again, and Julie was going to take that as a win.

Eventually, they’d played all the games they wanted to, and they drifted to the patio outside the arcade to have a gelato. The light, easy mood of their date was back, and they laughed and chatted about school. Julie told Nick about some of the songs she was working on with the band — “the time difference between here and Sweden is wild, but we make it work” — and Nick had her in stitches when he described how Mike had managed to somehow do a flip at lacrosse practice the other day and knock over the drink cooler.

Julie finished her gelato and tilted her head up to the sky, looking at the few stars that were managing to peek through the polluted LA night sky.

_You can see so many more stars now_ , Luke had said one night when they were stargazing together. _I had the worst asthma when I was a kid. I wonder if it would be easier to breathe now?_

“Hey, Julie?” Nick asked, and Julie looked over to find his face much closer to hers than she expected. “Can I...can I kiss you?”

She nibbled on her lip and nodded, and for a split second there it looked like Nick was hesitating, his eyes flickering and his jaw tense, but then he softly cupped her jaw and leaned in. 

It was her first kiss, and Nick tasted like the liquorice gelato he’d ordered for some strange reason, and it was...okay.

It was okay. 

There were no sparks. Julie had always thought that first kisses were meant to give you sparks and make your foot pop or something. _The Princess Diaries_ had been very clear on that.

She pulled away from Nick, who grinned at her. “That was really great,” he said. “Can I kiss you again?”

Julie still wasn’t sure she liked it, but Nick was sweet and maybe this time it would be better. “Sure,” she said, and as she leaned in to kiss Nick again she thought she saw Luke at the end of the patio. When she pulled back from that kiss — slightly better, though still no sparks — Luke was gone.

She didn’t see Luke for the rest of the weekend, and when she got to school on Monday, Nick had his arm around Carrie again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [iOS text skin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6434845/chapters/14729722) courtesy of CodenameCarrot and La_Temperanza (and to pearlcaddy, who used it in her excellent [Wizarding World of Food Service](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013403) universe).

“So Nick stole your song and gave it to Carrie,” Luke said. “I always knew I never liked him.”

_You don’t like him because you want to date Julie, moron_ , Alex thought, but kept that thought to himself. 

“He’s the worst,” Reggie said loyally. “Like, Bobby-level worst.” 

Alex smiled at his friends. _They’re idiots, but they’re my idiots_ , he thought.

“How are we going to get back at her?” Alex asked, and Julie shrugged, dragging her spoon through her sundae.

“By writing even better songs,” Luke declared, and Alex winced. _Wake Up_ might not be the best song for the _Phantoms_ — they’d never performed it as a band as it was so perfectly written for Julie to solo — but that didn’t matter. It was _Julie’s mom’s song_ , and that made it special.

But before he could try and diffuse the situation, Julie nodded fiercely. “Yeah. We’re going to write the best song possible and shove it in her _face_. I want to see her _crushed_ by our awesomeness.”

Their sweet little Julie had a martial look in her eyes and Alex was honestly scared. They’d all agreed that the only thing scarier than one girl crying was two girls crying, but if Alex was being honest, a girl on the warpath was even scarier.

“Okay, maybe crushed is a little much,” he offered, and Julie and Luke shot him matching glares.

“We’re going to crush her, Alexander,” Luke insisted. “We’re going to write the best song ever, and neither that girl nor her thieving substitute teacher of a father will be able to stop _Julie and the Phantoms_ from being the best band of all time.”

Reggie let out an enthusiastic “yeah!” as Luke poofed to the studio and back, his and Julie’s song-writing journals in his hands, and their two main songwriters were soon engaged in a furious spate of song-writing, words and half-sung melodies flying between them almost faster than Alex could follow.

Reggie started to look mournful as his carefully created sundae was abandoned to melt on the coffee table, and Alex tugged on his arm. “Let’s leave them to it, man,” he said, and they poofed into the studio, where Alex immediately started to pace.

“Do you want to go back and join them?” Reggie asked from his seat on the couch. “Because we totally can. I mean, I’m not as good with the lyrics as they are, but we can help!”

“Nah, I think we should let them have this one,” Alex said, too much nervous energy thrumming through him to stay still. He wanted to go and find Willie, but he didn’t want to leave Reggie alone. 

“Carrie stole our song,” Alex muttered as he paced. Mostly to himself, but hey, sometimes Reggie had good ideas.

“She did,” Reggie agreed, his eyes wide as Alex whirled around to face him.

“So why don’t we steal one of hers?” Alex asked, the beginnings of an idea starting to grow in his brain.

“I don’t really think _Julie and the Phantoms_ is ready to become a pop group,” Reggie objected. “I mean, you and Julie and Luke can probably do the moves, but I know I can’t.”

“No, no, it doesn’t need to be the whole band,” Alex said, the idea starting to take shape in his mind. “As long as Julie is in the room we’re visible, right? You’ve covered for Julie on keyboard before when she’s been leaping around with Luke at the front of the stage — do you think you could play a _Dirty Candy_ song on keyboard?”

“They’re pretty simple, so yeah,” said Reggie, his face scrunched up in confusion. “But what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to sing,” said Alex confidently. “And dance.”

Reggie still looked confused. “But there’s only one of you. And the whole thing about _Dirty Candy_ is that they’re a group. Where are you going to get four backing dancers from?”

At that, Alex stopped pacing with a blush. “I was going to ask Willie. I’m sure he can do the moves — you saw him at the Club, right? You think he could do it?”

Reggie nodded. “Definitely! But what about the others?”

Alex tensed and began to pace again. “Maybe Willie has some other ghost friends he can ask?”

“What about Flynn?” Reggie suggested after Alex had paced back and forth a few more times. “She’s a pretty good dancer. She might be able to help.”

Flynn hadn’t been there tonight, having come down with a nasty stomach bug the day before that had made the guys super nervous, but she’d assured them she was fine. Alex knew Flynn would be furious when she learned what Carrie had done, and Reggie was right — Flynn was a good dancer. She’d definitely want to help.

Alex fumbled for the phone that Julie had gotten them so they could contact her more discreetly now that they tended to become visible automatically whenever they were around her, though texting still felt weird. He had no idea how lifers did it so naturally. 

He carefully typed out a text to SHE WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING.  
  
"911! Are you awake? We need your help! — A & R."  
  
The response was almost immediate. "Come over. And BE VISIBLE."  
  


* * *

Alex and Reggie poofed into Flynn’s bedroom to see their feisty friend looked drawn and haggard, but still very much among the living. They’d visited the Ryder house a couple of times before at Flynn’s invitation, and as much as Alex knew Reggie wanted to throw himself down onto the pile of stuffed animals that Flynn had carefully arranged on her window seat, Reggie carefully kept his hands to himself as Flynn offered them a weak smile.

Being visible this far away from Julie was hard, like all their muscles had to be tense all the time or else they’d disappear, but it was worth it to check on their friend.

“What’s the emergency?” Flynn croaked after Alex and Reggie had fussed around her a bit, Alex checking that she had enough water and Reggie solemnly offering her Therapy Tiger, the giant stuffed tiger that Reggie had decided was his favourite of all of Flynn’s stuffed toys.

“Has Julie told you what happened at the Showcase tonight?” Alex asked, his feet dragging him to pace around the room while Reggie sat on the end of Flynn’s bed, curling Therapy Tiger’s tail around his fingers while Flynn stroked her hand over the big tiger’s head. Although they were visible to Flynn, and could interact with the objects in her room, Julie remained the only lifer they were solid to, which right now _sucked_.

Alex just wanted to give his friend a hug.

Flynn shook her head, and when Alex filled her in he realised he’d made a tactical mistake.

If two girls crying were scarier than one girl crying, then two girls on the warpath were scarier than one girl on the warpath.

Even in pjs with fluffy bunnies on them, Flynn was terrifying. Alex could almost see the anger crackling down her hair like lightning. He’d never understood why the Ancient Greeks had had a female goddess of war but right now, he totally got it. 

“That bitch!” she seethed. “That complete demon cow. You’re going to haunt her, right?”

“Alex actually had a better plan,” Reggie piped up. “She stole one of our songs, so we’re going to steal one of hers.”

“I’m guessing since it’s just you two here telling me this that you want to do it as a surprise for Julie?’ Flynn asked. “You’ll need to shift the song so it fits your range.”

Alex hadn’t thought of that, but he nodded. “Yeah.”

Flynn’s face broke into an evil smile. “And since you’re rewriting it for your range, why don’t we...change some of the words? Let everyone know how awful Carrie is through her own song?”

Alex gulped, and Reggie looked impressed. “That’s _evil_.”

Flynn shrugged. “I’m a teenage girl. It comes with the territory. Can I join y’all on stage? Because Carrie keeps putting rap verses into her songs and white girl ain’t no Marshall Mathers. It’s been pissing me off for months now, and I’d love to put her in her place.”

“I have no idea who that is, but sure,” Alex said with a shrug, Reggie looking equally confused.

“And if I’m part of the act, then we can perform it at school,” Flynn said, her voice getting faster and more enthusiastic. “It’ll land better there than at a random open mic, as there’s a lot of kids at Los Feliz who will be glad to see the Demon Candy taken down a peg or two.”

“So when do we get started?” bounced Reggie, and Flynn groaned.

“When I don’t feel like I’m going to hurl every few minutes.”

Alex started to stammer out an apology for interrupting her rest, and Flynn waved her hand at him. “Whatever, I was getting bored with staring at the ceiling. I think I can probably make it through a movie — Reggie, has anyone shown you _Rogue One_? It’ll make up for Jar-Jar, I promise.”

* * *

“What about Nick?” Alex asked when they got back to the studio to find that Julie and Luke had relocated out there and were curled up together on the couch. “He was the one who stole the song in the first place. I mean, Carrie absolutely shouldn’t have sung it, but...he did steal the song. And maybe she didn’t know that he didn’t write it?”

Julie shook her head. “She had to have known. Nick can’t write songs to save himself — he gets the worst marks in composition. He knows his way around a guitar solo —” Alex was amused to watch Luke bristle at that despite the fact that _Julie was literally tucked under his arm_ “— but lyrics are beyond him. But yeah. I’ll have to confront him at some point. I just...I really don’t want to,” she said, her voice small, and the subject was dropped as Luke started to talk Reggie and Alex through the song he and Julie’d written that afternoon.

It was a killer song. Possibly the best one they’d written together yet. 

Alex was definitely officially scared of teenage girls on the warpath. They were unstoppable.

* * *

“So what song are we going to do?” Reggie asked, poking at the _Dirty Candy_ YouTube channel while Flynn looked over his shoulder and Alex paced while twirling a drumstick.

“The rap lines in _Wow_ are particularly bad,” Flynn grumped. “‘Come follow me, we gon' make history, 'Cause we are the champions like Freddie Mercury, Yeah we gonna rock you, never gonna not do’ like what the fuck Carrie? That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Yeah but _Wow_ seems like more of a group song,” Alex mused. “It’ll be harder to change to make it all about Carrie.”

“What about the one she did at that open mic night? The one you joined in dancing for?” Reggie said. “Wasn’t that called _Look At Me_ or something?”

“Reggie, you’re a genius!” Alex said, grabbing Reggie’s head and planting a kiss on the top of the bassist’s head. “That one's perfect! And I already know some of the dance moves.”

Flynn reached through Reggie, ignoring his yelp of “hey!” and scrolled through the videos on _Dirty Candy_ ’s page. “They don’t have this one up here though — do you think you know the lyrics well enough after only hearing it once?”

Alex shrugged. “Between the three of us I think we can work it out, especially since we’re changing them anyway.”

“I don’t remember there being a rap verse in that one though,” Reggie said. “Which is fine — I can totally write you a fly beat to rap over,” he beamed at Flynn, and she grinned in return.

“Oh man, this is going to be so great,” Flynn crowed. “But first, we need to update your slang. No one says ‘fly’ anymore. It’s just sad.”

* * *

“‘I never open cause it’s my show, my show,’” Alex sang softly. “What should we do with that one?”

“‘I’m always open cause I swallow, swallow’?” suggested Flynn, and Alex blinked.

“Yeah, not sure I’m comfortable making accusations about a _sixteen year old’s sex life_ ,” Alex said, his voice much higher than usual.

“Besides, there’s nothing wrong with swallowing,” Reggie piped up from where he was messing around with Flynn’s keyboard, and Alex turned his head so fast to face his friend that he was amazed he didn’t snap his neck.

Reggie looked up and saw his friends gawking at him, and shrugged. “The B in LGBTQ stands for bassist, right?”

“That is _not_ what it stands for,” squawked Alex, and Flynn looked amused.

“Reggie, is there something you want to tell us?” she sassed him, and Reggie smiled brightly.

“Girls are great, but after Luke did his whole chemistry thing,” he waved his hand and Alex sent Flynn a look saying _I’ll fill you in later_ , “I thought about it and I realised that boys are pretty rad too.”

“Reggie!” Flynn sounded delighted. “Have you kissed a boy?”

Reggie’s pale cheeks blushed. “Maybe. But a gentleman never kisses and tells.”

“Despite your fancy name you are no gentleman, Reginald K. Peters,” Flynn said, abandoning their reworked lyrics to scramble over to Reggie at the keyboard. “Who was it? So we know him? Is he cute?”

Alex sighed, putting his notes down and joining them. He was kinda hurt that Reggie hadn’t told him about this earlier, but he was also kinda pleased that Reggie was getting out there and making his own friends. They had each other, and would always have each other, but Alex had Willie, and Luke and Julie were so wrapped up in each other that Luke was generally only parted from Julie when she forcefully banned him from her side, and Alex had been worried that Reggie was feeling left out.

_My little bassist, all grown up_ , he thought as Flynn expertly extracted the deets from Reggie.

* * *

“Willie!” Alex fell over his feet where he was trying out some moves as the hottest ghost Alex knew poofed onto the stage at Los Feliz school, three other ghosts with him.

“Hey, Hotdog,” Willie said with a fond smile as he walked over to give Alex a hand up. Willie kissed Alex on the tip of his nose and then turned to face the ghosts that had come with him.

“Alex, Reggie, meet your back up dancers: Brad, Kevin and -”

“Kyle!” said Reggie cheerfully, bounding over from where he’d been running through the music to _All Eyes on Me_ on the keyboard. Alex could _feel_ his eyebrows climbing as he watched Reggie and the third ghost — Kyle — embark on an elaborate handshake ritual.

_Is this the guy that Reggie’s been seeing?_ Alex wondered. The only deet Flynn hadn’t managed to get out of Reggie was the name of the guy he’d been with. He’d told them more than enough though, and Alex was almost kinda jealous that Reggie — Reggie, who hadn’t even been _into_ guys until after he’d _died_ — had more hands-on experience with men than Alex did, but Alex knew he was being stupid.

He and Willie were just fine. Just...taking it slow, and gentle, and if Willie didn’t take his shirt off around Alex soon Alex was going to die. Again. This time of sexual frustration rather than antifreeze poisoning.

Maybe he should take a leaf out of Reggie’s book and be bold — apparently Reggie’d just out-right asked the guy if he could kiss him, and then once that turned out to be fun the yet-unnamed guy had asked Reggie if he could give Reggie a blow-job and Reggie had happily reciprocated afterwards — but everytime Alex thought about asking Willie to take his shirt off and let Alex lick his abs Alex felt his face redden and his soul shiver. Alex couldn’t even bring himself to kiss Willie on the mouth, let alone ask for more.

He just wasn’t bold enough for that.

So for now, they held hands and screamed in museums and kissed each other on the nose or cheek and it was fine, it was all fine.

Really.

Honestly the only thing stopping Alex from pacing was Willie holding his hand, and if Alex didn’t move soon, even that wasn’t going to work.

He looked away from where Kyle was giving Reggie a noogie as Reggie tried to kick the other guy’s knees out from under him and wondered again if _this_ was the guy Reggie was seeing, and looked at the other two ghosts.

“Hey, I think I’ve seen you before,” Alex frowned, not quite able to work out where he knew the guys from.

They grinned, and with a twist of their hands their casual clothes had been replaced by fancier ones — a suit that was black on the right and white on the left, and a pink suit jacket with a sparkly pink bowtie.

“Dante? Fuego?” Alex asked, the names of the guys Caleb had tried to distract him with at the Hollywood Ghost Club easy to remember. They’d been fun to dance with. 

“Yeah, apparently ‘Brad’ and ‘Kevin’ aren’t ‘sexy’ enough for the Hollywood Ghost Club,” Kevin snarked. “We all have fake names there.”

“It’s part of the ‘magic’,” Brad said, and at the mention of magic Alex pulled Willie to the side.

“Willie...these are Caleb’s guys,” he whispered. “How do you know we can trust them?”

Willie shrugged. “Apart from you and the band, all the ghosts I know are Caleb’s guys. He kinda has a monopoly on ghosts here in LA. But these guys are solid, trust me, Hotdog. They don’t like Caleb any more than you do — and, I was kinda hoping…” Willie bit his lip and Alex thought this was grossly unfair because _Alex_ wanted to bite Willie’s lip. “I was kinda hoping that maybe if we danced with you, some of the magic that Julie worked on you guys would work with us too. And free us from Caleb’s bindings. We don’t know how to move on, but at least we’d be _free_.”

Alex didn’t like the sound of Willie even thinking of moving on, but he nodded. “Have any of you seen Caleb recently?” he asked as he turned back to the other ghosts.

The guys shook their heads. “Haven’t seen him for weeks,” said Kyle. 

“He does this sometimes,” shrugged Brad. “Fucks off somewhere. Turns back up after a few weeks with new schemes in place, some new lifers who owe him their soul, the usual. The club doesn’t open without him there, so we tend to all just relax for a bit until we feel him dragging at our souls again.”

“The last time he did this he said he was possessing a politician,” said Kevin. “Or was it a judge? By the end of it he owned the building the Hollywood Ghost Club is in, somehow.”

“Huh,” said Alex. “....Huh.”

“So, what’re we doing here? Willie said something about revenge dancing?”

“Yeah, so, our friend Julie —”

“Voice of an angel!” chimed in Reggie.

“— had her song stolen by this mean girl from her school.”

“Not even her song,” Reggie said, pushing Alex and making him stumble into Willie, who steadied him with his muscular arms and Alex didn’t enjoy that _one single bit_ , nope. “It was a song her mom wrote for her, before hermom died.”

“Julie hadn’t been able to sing anything since her mom died,” Alex took over the story. “Until she found and sang that song. That song gave Julie music back — and then Carrie stole it.”

“Like Carrie’s dad stole our songs after we died,” Reggie said. “Even _Crooked Teeth_ , which is totally about Alex.”

“Nope, definitely still about you,” Alex said, shoving Reggie away from where Reggie was trying to noogie him. “So we had the idea to steal one of Carrie’s songs, but they’re pop numbers, not rock songs. Our lifer friend, Flynn, has helped us come up with lyrics to Carrie’s song that make fun of her, and she’s going to rap for us, but Carrie’s whole thing is that she has a band of colour-coordinated back up dancers.”

“Which means hotdog here also needs some back up dancers,” Willie explained. 

The new ghosts exchanged grins. “We’re in.”

* * *

Alex was a bit intimidated — Kevin, Kyle and Brad could _move_. “They were professional dancers before they died,” Willie explained when he and Alex were on a screaming-in-museums date a few days later after their first rehearsal. “And they’ve been dancing with Caleb for decades. They know _tons_.”

But what they didn’t know were the moves to _All Eyes On Me_ , and Alex didn’t know the words to describe what they should all be doing. He’d been on stage with _Dirty Candy_ , but he’d mostly been freestyling and having a good time, not learning the girls’ choreography, and Reggie was no help.

Reggie’s vocabulary of dance moves started with ‘hand-wave thing’ and ended with ‘skipping’.

Things got worse when they added Flynn into the mix and started practicing in the evenings in the school hall — with Reggie on the keys and Alex singing they found it easier to be visible to her, but the rest of the guys didn’t have the knack and kept dancing through her, making Flynn shiver and throwing the entire choreography off when the lifer moved to a spot they weren’t expecting as she prowled around the stage and rapped her verses.

“Why isn’t this working?” Alex complained after the third time he’d dodged Flynn only to send Kevin, Brad and Kyle all flying into Reggie’s speaker stack.

“Because you don’t have me,” came a voice from the back of the hall.

Alex looked up from where he’d been standing, his hands on his knees as he tried to drag more breath into his lungs even though he _knew_ he didn’t need it, and stared at the teenage girl with purple hair walking towards them.

“Kayla?” said Flynn, staring at her. “What are you doing here?”


	3. Chapter 3

“These bozos invited me,” Kayla said, jerking her thumb at the tangle of ghost backup dancers trying to extract themselves from Reggie’s gear.

“How? They’re ghosts?” Flynn asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion, as Kyle popped his head up with a bright “Hi, Kayla!”

The air around Kayla shimmered and in quick succession she flicked through a series of outfits — from street clothes to her _Dirty Candy_ stage outfit to something that looked like a dress from the 1940s and then back to street clothes.

“ _YOU’RE A WITCH?_ ” Reggie exclaimed, and Kayla winked at him before changing into one more outfit — a blue sparkly number that Alex recognised from their first visit to the Hollywood Ghost Club.

“Ghost, actually,” Kayla said, poofing onto the stage. Reggie couldn’t take his eyes off her legs and Alex sighed. Reggie had talked about the twins from the club for weeks, and he’d tried to flirt with this girl when he’d thought she was a lifer. Now that they knew she was a ghost? Alex was prepared for Reggie to be insufferable.

Alex braced himself for bad poetry.

“What the _fuck_?” Flynn said. “If you’re a ghost, what are you doing hanging around a high school? Shouldn’t you be somewhere more exciting? And what the fuck, if you’re a ghost, how come I can see you? How come everyone in school can see you? And touch you?”

Kayla shrugged as she switched back into street clothes. “In order: Caleb owns my soul. He ordered me to come here and befriend Carrie. Yes, I would like to be somewhere far more exciting — this is like the fourth time I’ve been through high school now and honestly, it never gets less suckier. If I have to read _Of Mice and Men_ or suffer through Algebra II one more time, I’m going to cut a bitch. And as for how they can see and touch me, well, there’s a trick to it. I’m an old ghost. I’ve learned a lot of tricks. I can teach some of them to you guys,” she said, turning to Alex and Willie. “If you want.”

“Why should we trust you?” Alex asked. “If your soul belongs to Caleb, and you’re friends with Carrie?”

“Because I want out,” Kayla said. “You three broke the hold Caleb had on you. I’ve been under that man’s thumb since 1943 and I. Want. Out. I want to be my own person again. He’s been using me for years — using me to spy on lifers for him, using my choreography and my ideas and _never_ giving me credit. I’ve had enough. And Carrie’s just the same. I do all the choreography for _Dirty Candy_ , and I do it well. And then I have to dumb it down for Carrie to follow, because she wouldn’t know a tendu from a ronde-de-jambe if it smacked her over the head and called her Susan, and then she goes and claims that she uses Katy Perry’s choreographer which is an outright fucking lie and after eight decades I can choreograph _circles_ around RJ Durell and his stupid fucking Left Shark. And then she just dumps us, with no explanation and no warning, after we’d spent like three weeks rehearsing a new song for that stupid Showcase. I’m sick of both of them treating me like shit. Look, if I help you, it’s a win-win — I’ll ensure you have moves that Carrie can’t pull off in her _dreams_ , and you help me get free of Caleb.”

 _Yeah, teenage girls are terrifying_ , Alex thought, then snorted quietly at the love-struck look on Reggie’s face.

“We can’t guarantee we can get you free of Caleb,” Alex said, his anxiety pushing him to be truthful. “We don’t know how Julie managed it with us. I can’t promise you we’ll be able to free any of you.”

Kayla bit her lip, and looked at the other ghosts, and then at Willie, still holding Alex’s hand. “It’s a chance I’m willing to take,” she shrugged. “Even the hope of freedom is better than nothing.”

She extended her hand, and Reggie all but leapt across the stage to shake it before Alex could. “It’s a deal!” he said, and Kayla winked.

“I’m glad to hear it,” she said. “Now, show me what you’ve got, and I’ll show you how to make it better.”

* * *

Kayla was a _slavedriver_ and if Alex wasn’t already dead, he was fairly sure he’d be dead by now.

He and the boys sprawled on the stage panting as Kayla taped a section of the stage off for Flynn. “This is your stage-within-a-stage, Ryder. Don’t go out of it when it’s your verse, and the boys won’t walk through you. Unless you want to pretend that these guys are holograms too?”

With a start, Alex realised that it had been the purple haired girl standing beside Carrie who had been the one to suggest that they were holograms all the way back when they’d done their surprise performance of _Bright_ at the school, and he looked at the other ghost with new appreciation. _She’s quick_ , he thought. _And still terrifying_. 

“ _Flynn and her Hologram Band_?” Alex joked, and Flynn stuck her tongue out.

“More like _Flynn and the Amazing Dancing Himbos_ ,” she snarked at him, and Alex responded with a wink.

Currently, his eyes were the only part of him that didn’t ache. He figured it was only a matter of time until Kayla worked out a dance step that would make them ache too.

“Come on, slugs, let’s run this one more time!” Kayla barked. “Ryder has a curfew, and I want us to complete a run-through that doesn’t involve anyone dancing through the lifer before then!”

Reggie — terrible, traitorous Reggie who didn’t have to dance and just bopped around behind his keyboard and therefore was spared the wrath of Kayla — offered Alex a hand up.

“Isn’t she great?” Reggie said, casting an adoring look at Kayla who was chivvying the other ghosts to their feet, and Alex was so blindingly angry at the unfairness of it all that he stole a page from Luke’s book and gave Reggie a wet willie before stalking to his starting position with a huff.

Willie smiled at him, and it made Alex’s heart feel about ten times lighter, even though his everything else still ached.

“Hey, Hotdog, after this, want to head to Oregon? There’s a creepy house I think you’ll like there. Good acoustics for screaming.”

Alex smiled. “I don’t think I’ll have the energy to scream after this,” he admitted. _Unless of course you don’t take your shirt off around me soon. Then I really will scream_. “Can we even poof that far?”

Willie shrugged. “The world’s our bivalve, Hotdog. We can poof to wherever we like.”

Kayla raked her eyes over them and nodded to Reggie to start the music, and the torture began all over again.

* * *

Eventually though, the moves started to make sense, Kayla stopped yelling at them so much, and they even stopped dancing through Flynn.

Kayla had even stayed true to her word and started to teach them how to be more solid without Julie around — and without playing their instruments.

“It’s easier with Julie around,” Alex said as he collapsed into a chair beside the stage. 

Kayla tossed him a water bottle as she came to sit beside him. Eating and drinking was one of the first things Kayla had taught them, which Alex appreciated — his body might not actually _need_ water after an intense dance rehearsal, but good luck convincing his mind of that. 

“I’m not surprised,” Kayla said. “That girl is _powerful_.”

“Huh?”

Kayla shrugged. “Julie’s voice is _power_ ,” she explained. “You know how some people — some music — makes you feel bigger than you are? Or takes you away to another place and makes you feel all of the emotions? Some of it is talent, but sometimes, it’s actual magic. Inherent, in-built magic. And Julie Molina has it in spades.”

 _So Reggie was right?_ Alex wondered. _Julie is a witch?_

“It was almost a relief when she didn’t sing for a year,” Kayla said. “I hadn’t been exposed to someone that powerful in a long time, and it was hard not to drop my cover around her. My heart broke for her when she couldn’t sing — Julie’s so sweet and she was in so much pain, it sucked to watch — but it gave me time to build up my defenses against her.”

“I wonder…” Alex started. “Do you think it was Julie’s magic that pulled us out of Caleb’s club and to her at the Orpheum?” 

Kayla shrugged, but now that Alex had the idea in his head he couldn’t stop himself from talking it through. 

“I remember trying to resist Caleb’s pull while he was singing, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t resist him. It was like I was being dragged through a swamp when he finally pulled me on stage, and then I felt like this fresh breeze and this feeling of light pulling me away from Caleb, and then I was on stage with Julie. It was _really weird_ ,” he said, grateful to have someone to talk about it with. 

Alex’d tried to raise it with Reggie and Luke after their performance at the Orpheum, but they’d been so overjoyed to be free of Caleb’s stamp they hadn’t wanted to talk about it.

Kayla let out a low whistle. “So that’s what happened,” she said. “I’d wondered how she’d pulled it off. I thought maybe Brendan had helped her, but if what you’re saying is true then Julie Molina, completely untrained, just beat Caleb at his own game without even knowing what she’d done.”

“Untrained?” Alex asked. “Can someone train her?”

Kayla nodded. “I’ve come across a few witches in my time,” she said. “None recently, or I’d try and figure out a way to get Julie in touch with them. Because Julie is untrained and powerful, and I’d really rather not rely on the sweet innocence of a teenage girl as the only thing stopping her from accidentally casting a spell to unmake the world or something.”

 _Unmaking the world sounds painful_ , Alex thought. Then something else that Kayla said registered with him. “Wait, who’s Brendan? Why would he help Julie?”

Kayla stared at him. “Brendan Urie? From _Panic! at the Disco_? The band you opened for at the Orpheum? That Brendan.”

“Okay, but why would he help Julie? And how would he help Julie?”

Kayla giggled. “Oh man, you don’t know? And you opened for him with your witch bandmate? This is too good. Caleb tried to trap Brendan into a deal,” she explained. “He does that with lifers sometimes — success in exchange for something that the lifer has — but Brendan turned him down, saying he was good enough to make it on his own. Then he stole Caleb’s whole look and made it a thing. Caleb was _furious_ when the music video for _I Write Sins_ came out — he hasn’t worn red since. Caleb _hates_ Brendan Urie, but Brendan always wards himself and his venues against ghosts, so there’s nothing Caleb can do. Which actually makes what Julie did all the more impressive — she overrode Brendan’s wards to bring you guys in, without training and _without knowing what she was doing_. And Brendan’s wards are no laughing matter — I don’t know of a single ghost who’s managed to get into one of his shows. Even the ghosts that haunt a venue get temporarily evicted when _Panic!_ comes to town.”

Alex’s mind was reeling. It was just so much to take in — magic was real? Julie’s a witch? — and he took a sip of water to give his hands something to do. He’d pace, but he knew he needed to save his energy for dancing.

A laugh made Alex look over to where the other ghosts were sprawled out on the floor, and he watched as Willie stretched and his shirt rode up and showed his abs and the v of muscle disappearing into his shorts all covered in smooth, lickable skin, and Alex choked, spilling the water all down his shirt.

Kayla cracked up and threw him a towel. “You’ve got it bad,” she teased as Alex blushed and tried to pat himself dry. “Why haven’t you made a move yet?”

Alex flailed. “I don’t...I don’t want to ruin anything,” he confessed. “What if he doesn’t feel the same way? What if I’ve got it wrong?”

“Willie’s just as smitten with you as you are with him,” Kayla said, her voice sincere. “And he’s just as unsure as you are about your feelings. It’s very annoying to watch.”

“I don’t do well with change,” Alex said. “And I don’t want to lose him.”

“Alex, did becoming a ghost teach you nothing?” Kayla said, leaning close and resting her head on his shoulder. “Life is short. And your afterlife isn’t guaranteed. None of us know how long we’re going to be here, as lifers _or_ as ghosts. Make the first move, Alex. Go get your boy.”

* * *

Most mornings, Flynn would just burst into the Molina home in a flurry of noise and morning-personness and a minimum of three sodas to drag Julie to school, but this morning, Flynn’s usual time to appear had been and gone and Julie was just awake enough to wonder what had happened.

An eruption of very loud honking outside drew the Molina’s to the window and saw a very excited Flynn leaning out the window of a baby-blue, classic VW Beetle.

“Flynn, you got your permit!” Julie shrieked as she ran out of the car.

“I GOT MY PERMIIIT!” Flynn agreed, starting to climb out of the car and then having to scramble back in to put the handbrake on. “And my parents got me a car! Want a ride to school in Veronica?”

“Veronica?” Julie asked as Flynn proudly patted the roof of the Bug.

“She seems like a Veronica. Anyway, grab your stuff, let’s go!”

“Can I, Dad? Please?” Julie asked her dad, who was standing on the sidewalk with Carlos. 

Her dad scratched the back of his head, and behind them in the bushes Julie could see the band hiding. Reggie gave them a thumbs up, while Luke mouthed ‘Nice ride’ and Alex mouthed ‘Be safe!’. 

“I don’t know, Jules. If Flynn just got her permit she’s not allowed to have passengers for a while.”

“I’m a super safe driver, Mr. Molina. I won’t get into any trouble,” Flynn said, her serious tone somewhat undercut by the fact she was nearly vibrating with excitement. “We’ll head straight to school, and then I’ll drop Julie off home afterwards, I promise.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about, Flynn, it’s other drivers,” he said, but Julie brought out her best puppy dog eyes (if she’d taken any inspiration for them from Luke’s she would never admit to it), and beside her saw Flynn do the same.

“Please, Papi?” Julie asked, and her dad crumbled, as she knew he would.

 _He really does let me do whatever I want when I call him Papi_ , she realised. _I must never abuse this power._

“Okay, yes, Flynn can take you to school today. I suspect you’re too late for the bus anyway, and I need to take Carlos in the other direction. But straight there, okay? And text me when you arrive.”

With a cheer, the girls bundled themselves into the Bug and after a few bunny hops, drove off down the street.

* * *

_Forget the bull in the china shop  
There's a china doll in the bullpen  
It's all in the wrist, fire from the hip  
Talk a little shit, roll thick  
Whole clique  
Let's begin like_

Julie whooped as Flynn finished _The Bullpen_ as she carefully navigated Veronica into the Los Feliz student parking lot. 

“Damn girl you can flow,” Julie said, handing Flynn’s frap to her after Flynn carefully locked Veronica.

(They’d justified their Starbucks stop to themselves because Starbucks was _on the way_ to school — and they’d used the drive-thru so they hadn’t even left the car, which doubly counted, right?)

“Next time there’s a spirit rally scheduled, I should see if I’m allowed to do some Missy Elliot to hype up the crowd. It’d definitely be better than whatever sugary trash the Demon Candy is planning.”

“Yeah but if you do _Pep Rally_ you’d need like, backup dancers, wouldn’t you?”

Flynn grinned. “I think I know where I can get some. And you’d be with me, right? _Double Trouble_ ain’t nothing without my best girl by my side,” she said as she linked her arm through Julie’s as they stood in front of Veronica, Flynn enjoying how many people came up to her to admire the car and congratulate her on getting her permit.

“Of course,” Julie said, and then froze as a flash of pink caught the corner of her eye.

 _Oh no_ , Julie thought as Carrie pulled into the Los Feliz student parking lot in a brand new, candy pink VW Beetle, the rest of the girls from _Dirty Candy_ crowded in as well.

 _I forgot they had the same birthday_ , Julie thought, biting her lip as she looked to see Flynn’s reaction to Carrie Wilson, her sworn enemy, driving almost the same car as her. The pink Bug even had the license plate ‘CARRIE’. Carrie always had gone to extremes.

Flynn’s previously happy glow had faded, and Julie could see the storm clouds darken across her friend’s face as Carrie did a slow lap of the parking lot and then took the last remaining space.

Right beside where Flynn had parked Veronica.

The watching crowd held their breath as _Dirty Candy_ giggled and preened their way out of the car, the rivalry between Flynn and Carrie well-known by their peers. 

“Aw, is that old clunker the best your family could do, Flynn?” Carrie asked, her tone sugary sweet. “I knew you had money issues, but not like, last-century-engineering money issues,” she said with a smile, and Julie tightened her grip on Flynn’s arm, worried that her friend would literally haul back and smack Carrie in the parking lot. “Don’t worry, if that old heap ever breaks down, I’m sure you can get like, at least two dollars from selling it for scrap.”

With that, Carrie flicked her hair and sashayed towards school as the bell rang and the crowd dispersed.

“Veronica isn’t an old clunker,” Flynn muttered. “My mom had one of these when she was my age! Vintage is cool!”

“Vintage is very cool,” Julie said, patting Flynn’s arm in sympathy. “And Veronica is much better than Carrie’s car.”

Flynn huffed in agreement, still looking annoyed, and Julie knew it was going to take a long time for her friend to forgive this slight.

A buzzing in her pocket made Julie remember that she’d grabbed Flynn’s phone when they’d gotten into Veronia to ensure that Flynn didn’t try and use her phone when driving. She pulled Flynn’s phone out and glanced at the screen as she handed it over. “Why is someone called ‘Dance Commander’ telling you you can’t add a verse about the car?”

Flynn grinned. “Oh, it’s for the _new talent // remix_ thing tomorrow. You’re coming, right?”

“I am, even though you’ve been very mysterious about it,” Julie said. “I can’t believe you won’t tell me what you’re doing, or who with, especially after you gave me so much guilt about not telling you about the guys!”

“There’s a difference between ‘I’ve prepared a surprise musical number with which I’m going to affirm our life-long friendship’ and ‘by the way, ghosts are real and surprisingly attractive’,” Flynn said as they reached Julie’s locker. “And speaking of ghosts, bring the boys tomorrow, okay? I know Luke’ll want to see this.”

“This whole Swedish thing isn’t going to last if they keep appearing around us,” Julie muttered as she opened her locker.

“Eh, that’s a you-problem, not a me-problem,” Flynn said. “And now, I’ve gotta haul ass. If I get another tardy in English, my folks are going to ground me for a week.”

“I mean, now they’ll probably just take Veronica away,” Julie said, and Flynn looked horrified.

“See you at lunch, underachiever!” Flynn yelled as she booked it down the hallway and nearly collided with a double-bass. “Out of my _way_ , new kid!”

* * *

Luke poked around the Molina’s living room, working on being able to physically hold things without Julie around. The house was quiet — Julie and Carlos were at school, Ray was at work, Alex had gone to hang out with Willie and Luke had no idea where Reggie was. 

It was like two hours until he’d promised Julie he’d be at the school to watch Flynn in the remix thing, and Luke was bored, and his parents were at work so there was no use in checking in on them, and his muse wasn’t cooperating with songwriting, and he was _bored_. So here he was, being a creeper looking through the Molinas’ things.

(Also, if he wanted to get Julie a birthday present, he’d a) have to know when her birthday was and b) be able to physically hold things, so the snooping was justified.

Really.)

He found a stack of old photo albums and managed to carefully pull one out and over to the couch. He opened it and grinned — it seemed like this was mostly Ray’s work, and yeah, he could see why Reggie talked so much about Ray’s ability to capture light in his photos. 

_I forgot how stunning Rose was_ , Luke thought. _I only met her that one time._ Julie had clearly inherited her mom’s smile and hair, even though Luke was fairly sure she’d gotten Ray’s nose. The next few pages were full of photos of Rose — starting with quick snapshots from a venue that Luke recognised as the Orpheum, to candid shots in other venues and then around LA, the bright sunlight making Rose glow, to action shots of Rose and her band.

Ray was only in a few photos, though the ones he was in made Luke grin at how awkward the man was in front of the camera. Luke smiled at the photos of the Molinas moving into this house, their belongings in boxes and Rose’s hair tied up in a bandana, a smudge of dirt on her nose as she laughed.

Then he turned the page and Luke felt his heart grow three sizes. It was Ray and Rose’s wedding day, and the Molinas looked _radiant_. Rose’s dress was simple but gorgeous, the white fabric and veil amazing against her darker skin and hair, and Luke was man enough to admit that Ray looked very handsome in his suit. Luke knew _nothing_ about wedding fashion, and honestly he didn’t care, but he could tell from this photo how much love there was between Ray and Rose, and Luke’s heart broke for the man for losing his heart the way he had.

 _Imagine how beautiful Julie will look on her wedding day,_ a traitorous part of Luke’s brain whispered. _Imagine standing there at the altar, waiting for her, Alex and Reggie beside you, and then the music starts to play — something you’ve written together, obviously — and you turn and it’s her, coming up the aisle on her dad’s arm in a white dress, maybe the same dress as Rose is wearing in these photos, flowers in her hair and her smile shining through the veil over her face_ and Luke stopped that fantasy RIGHT THERE because he was not a teenage girl, dammit.

His eyes stayed on the formal wedding portrait of Rose and Ray for way too long before he remembered that he couldn’t marry Julie because he was _dead_.

And dead guys don’t get to marry beautiful living girls, not even if said girl had a voice like an angel, a heart big enough to encircle his whole world, and a glorious smile that stopped his heart in his chest every time he saw it.

Or, a smile that _would_ stop his heart, if it was beating in the first place.

(Sometimes, when he looked at Julie, he felt his heart start to beat anyway)

He hurriedly turned the page and winced to see Bobby in several of the photos from the wedding day, though he was amused to see an older woman in a very fancy hat glaring at Bobby in every single photo. _Good instincts, lady in fancy hat_ , he thought as he moved on from the wedding photos. A few pages later, he noticed that Rose’s stomach had begun to swell, and it seemed like no time at all before he found a photo of Rose, lying in a hospital bed, looking exhausted and proud as she cradled a small bundle in her arms, Ray perched on the bed beside her looking as nervous as hell.

“Julie Rosarita Molina, 24 June 2004, 4:30am; 6 pounds and 9 ounces,” he read aloud. _Good, I have a bit of time until I need to work out a present_ , he thought, taking a careful note of Julie’s birthday. He looked closely at the photos of the newborn Julie that dominated the next few pages of the album, but really, all he could see was screwed up features and a cap of dark hair. _All babies look the same_.

Slowly though, Julie got older in the photos, and Luke started to see his Julie emerge from the generic baby. He laughed at a photo of her clinging determinedly to a piano bench when she was little more than a toddler, and he thought there had never been a kid as adorable as Julie when she was all dressed up for a piano recital, her hair pulled back into pigtails and determination on her face as she lowered her hands to the keys.

He grinned at the various silly dance and Halloween costumes Julie had worn over the years, privately thinking the one where she was a dahlia was the cutest, and then with a start realised the blonde girl beside Julie in most of the photos was _Carrie_. He flipped back a few pages to Julie’s 1st birthday and yep, there was Carrie. Dance recitals? Carrie. Holiday snaps? Carrie. When he looked closely he could even make out Bobby in the background sometimes, always on his own or with the same older woman from the wedding still glaring at him. One photo of Rose tying a tiny Carrie’s hair back into a bun while Julie mugged at the camera in a leotard and ballet shoes made him smile, even though Bobby was in that one too.

It didn’t look like Bobby was aging well. Luke felt a stab of vicious pleasure at that. 

Baby Carlos soon joined the family, and Julie and Carrie’s smiles lost and gained teeth, and Flynn started appearing in more and more photos, and then Carrie was gone.

He flipped back to the photos where Carrie was still present, and this time a detail in the background caught his eye.

At Julie’s 10th birthday she had her arms around both Flynn and Carrie, the three girls all wearing matching sparkly tiaras and delighted smiles, and in the background Bobby was glaring at someone. Luke couldn’t see who Bobby was glaring at, but he could make out a shadow on the wall beside Bobby.

A shadow that looked like it was wearing a top hat and a cape.

Luke felt a block of ice form in his stomach as he frantically paged back through the photos, carefully examining all the ones with Bobby in them. _There_ and _there_ — a dark top-hatted shadow beside Bobby.

Luke flipped to the front of the album, to the very first snapshots of Rose at the Orpheum, and this time he looked less at Julie’s mom and more at the background.

If he squinted, he could see that the roadies were wearing _Sunset Curve_ shirts. And that looked like Bobby beside the stage — shaking hands with Caleb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song referenced in this chapter:  
>  _The Bullpen_ , by Dessa. [Give it a listen!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvi3UDQdl7k)
> 
> Also, thank you to [breakaway71](https://archiveofourown.org/users/breakaway71/pseuds/breakaway71), who is who I stole the idea of Bobby making a deal with Caleb from <3\. Go read their story _Family Matters_ , it's amazing.


	4. Chapter 4

Julie lurked at the back of the Los Feliz school hall, suffering through _new talent // remix_. Logically, she knew it was a good idea — people could try stuff they didn’t usually do, form a new group to see if it worked, there was even that guy last year who’d earned a spot in the music program by doing a surprise performance and wowed everyone (part of the reason why she’d caved to the boys encouraging her surprise performance of _Bright_ was that she knew surprise spots had been issued before) — but some of this new talent should never have left the rehearsal studio. And some of these remixes were _bad_.

The new kid busting out a surprisingly coherent version of _Thrift Shop_ while playing the double bass had been the highlight so far, while Nick performing a jazz ballet rendition of _Sympathy for the Devil_ had been weird. He'd managed the steps okay, but it was so... different from what Julie was used to from him.

Then again, Nick had been _weird_ lately. Julie was kinda worried about him. But like, as a friend, nothing more. Never anything more, not after he’d kissed her then gone back to Carrie.

Beside her, Alex, Reggie, and Willie clapped politely as a barbershop quartet finished slaughtering a Sex Pistols song, and Mrs. Harrison took the stage again. "Thank you, _Barbershop Pistols_ , that was certainly... something. And now for our final act — _Flynn and Her Amazing Dancing Himbos_ , performing ‘All Eyes on Me (Double Trouble remix)’," the teacher read off her paper with a frown.

Beside Julie, Alex groaned. "I told her not to use that name," he grumped.

"That's our cue!" Reggie said, and the boys poofed away, leaving Julie alone and _really_ confused.

With a rush of air, Luke appeared beside her, visibly upset, his eyes and hair wild.

"Luke? What's wrong?"

"It was _Bobby_ ," Luke said. "Bobby made a deal with Caleb."

As the lights went up on stage to reveal Alex, Willie and three other ghosts dressed in familiar-looking pastel outfits with Reggie standing off to one side with a keyboard, Julie clutched Luke's arm. "Are you sure?"

Luke nodded, his eyes desperate. "I found an old photo of your mom, taken the night we died. Bobby's in the background, shaking hands with Caleb. He must have made a deal to get us out of the way, so he could steal our songs."

Before he could say anything more, music started blasting through the hall and Alex started to sing.

_Whenever I walk in the room  
All the focus on me  
The way I talk, the way I move  
They all want on my team  
Not tryin' to brag, brag, but I'm flawless  
I'm taking over your playlist_

Julie and Luke’s jaws dropped as they watched Alex strut his stuff on stage, him and the boys perfectly mimicking the performance they’d seen _Dirty Candy_ do at the open mic night, and then when the pre-chorus hit they realised Alex had changed the words.

_Yeah Carrie, you sound conceited  
And you get more praise than needed  
I’m not jealous, you can’t help it  
You wish you were me though_

_It’s weird, he even moves like Carrie does_ , Julie thought. _But those dance moves are way harder than what_ Dirty Candy _normally does._ Wherever Alex had found his backup dancers — and Julie figured they were ghosts, because they looked older than high school students — they could _move_.

_My friends and I yeah we’re all tight, all tight  
But you’re a bitch so yours all fight, all fight  
Yeah you’re a thief and that won’t fly, won’t fly  
Don’t you know that kindness is free?_

_Dirty Candy’s just a sideshow, sideshow  
You treat others like they’re side hos, side hos  
I’ve seen puddles not so shallow, shallow  
And don’t you know that kindness is free?_

Alex continued to tear into Carrie in the next verse, some of his lines making the crowd gasp and others making them cheer, and Julie started to wonder where Flynn was.

Then Reggie changed the rhythm of the song and Flynn bounded into the spotlight.

_Yo! Carrie, wanna know something wild?  
Your work ain’t spicy, shit it ain’t even mild  
Ya got not talent, ya not gonna last  
Ya just gonna burn through all of Daddy’s cash  
Braggin’ ‘bout stealing songs, dont’cha know that’s robbery?  
Like father, like daughter it sure sounds like to me_

_Your father stole the shit that made him a hit  
Now you’re doing the same, you stupid little bitch  
But it ain’t ‘95, and we’ve got receipts  
Trash ya, bag ya, out on the street  
You think they’re watching cuz’ they all love you?  
You stole Julie’s song, dem’n, you’re totally through_

Julie gaped as Flynn joined Alex for the final chorus, the two nailing their moves and vocals and putting on a show for the watching Los Feliz crowd. Now she understood what Flynn meant about “a musical number that will affirm our life-long friendship” — Flynn had stolen one of Carrie’s songs, and used it to tell the whole school what Carrie had done. Even Luke was cheering beside her, his news about Caleb forgotten as their friends finished the song to thunderous applause.

Only two people in the audience looked unhappy about the song. As she marched onto the stage from the wings, Mrs. Harrison did _not_ look pleased at an expletive-filled song being performed solely to make fun of a fellow student. The ‘holograms’ poofed away, leaving Flynn to face the angry teacher alone, and a very small part of Julie did wonder if maybe the song had been too mean.

But then a larger part of Julie remembered all the insults Carrie had slung her way, and the way that Carrie had dropped her like a stone when they’d arrived at high school. _It’s about time someone took her down a peg or two_ , Julie thought viciously.

The door slamming into the wall beside her made Julie realise that Carrie had just run out of the hall, and Julie felt kinda bad. None of the girls from _Dirty Candy_ looked like they were going to follow Carrie — they looked outright delighted at the song, with Kayla looking particularly smug — and Nick was still standing with his friends. 

Kinda hating herself for it, Julie went to follow Carrie. _She's just been humiliated in front of the whole school_ , Julie thought. _She shouldn't be alone right now_.

"Where are you going?" Luke asked, catching her arm.

"I'm going to check on Carrie," Julie said. "She looked really upset."

"But...she stole your mom's song! And Bobby got us killed!"

"Carrie isn't her dad," Julie said softly. "And we were friends once. I'd want someone with me after something like that, even if it's someone I hated. Even if it was Carrie."

Julie gently but firmly lifted Luke's hand off her arm and left the hall, catching a flicker of long blonde hair disappearing into the girls' bathroom.

Bracing herself for what she knew was probably going to be a really awful conversation, Julie shook her head and threw her shoulders back. _You got on the stage at the Orpheum not knowing if you'd ever see the boys again_ , she reminded herself. _You can handle this._

She saw someone had scratched a flower into the paint of the bathroom door, and although it wasn't a dahlia, Julie took it as a sign and pushed open the door.

* * *

"Get out," Carrie snarled when she saw Julie in the mirror.

"Carrie," Julie started, her hands out as she approached the other girl as if she was approaching a wild animal, and Carrie shook her head.

"I don't want to hear it. You've done enough."

"I've done nothing," Julie said, fighting to keep her voice level. _She's hurt, don't make it worse_. "I didn't know what Flynn and Alex were planning. I didn’t know they were planning anything at all."

"Would you have stopped them if you knew?" Carrie asked, her hands gripping the bench and her eyes locked on Julie's in the mirror.

Julie bit her lip, not knowing what to say, and Carrie sneered. "Figured as much. You always play so innocent and sweet, but I know what’s behind that mask. Perfect little Julie Molina, with her tragic backstory and her voice like an angel — a voice she conveniently remembered how to use _right_ at the perfect time to upstage _Dirty Candy's_ first solo performance. It was just a spirit rally, but it was _ours_ and you took it from me." Carrie slumped. "I might be a bitch, but at least I'm honest about it. You're just a two-faced backstabber."

_Wow_ , was all Julie could think. _Maybe I made a mistake coming in here_. But no one else had come in, and as her mom had written in _Wake Up_ , it wasn't in Julie's nature to back down without a fight.

She shrugged. "If people think I'm nice and sweet, it hurts more when I'm a bitch. And I swear, I didn't know what Flynn and Alex were planning. I mean it. But they made a good point — you did steal my song. And your dad stole all of his hits."

"I didn't steal your song!" Carrie cried. "It's not your song! I'm sorry if Nick made you think it was, but he wrote it for me."

Julie shook her head. "Nick didn't write that song. My mom did." She pulled her phone out and opened the scan she'd taken of the original music to _Wake Up_ for safekeeping. "See? That's her handwriting." _You saw it on enough presents and scores growing up_ , Julie thought, almost daring Carrie to deny the truth.

Carrie stared at the phone for a long time. "Yeah, that's her handwriting," she agreed, her voice sad. “I did think it was strange that Nick could suddenly write a good song.”

Julie thought back to some of the terrible compositions Nick had submitted for assignments since they’d started in the music program, and bit her lip to hide a grin. Behind her she heard the door to the bathroom open, but was too focused on Carrie to look to see who had entered.

“Nick and I were partners for Dance and US History,” Julie said as she put her phone back in her pocket. “I have this music framed in my room. He must have copied it out when I was out of the room or something.”

“But why would he do that?” Carrie asked. “He had to know the truth would come out. You’ve got receipts.”

Julie shrugged. “He’s your boyfriend.”

“After this, I don’t think he is,” Carrie said. “Things have been weird between us since we made up, and well...he’s not here. You are.”

“I mean, this is a girls’ bathroom,” Julie pointed out.

“That’s not stopping them,” Carrie said, nodding to the door behind her and Julie turned to see her boys crowded in the doorway, very carefully not actually entering the girls’ bathroom.

“We just wanted to check you were okay,” Alex said. 

“The yelling stopped,” said Luke, glaring at Carrie.

“I bet that’s where they keep the butterflies and glitter,” Reggie whispered loudly to Alex, pointing at the pad dispenser on the wall, and Julie smacked her forehead into her hand then gestured for the boys to come in and close the door. The whole school didn’t need to see them hovering in the doorway.

“Aren’t you meant to be in Sweden?” Carrie asked waspishly as the boys crowded into the bathroom and let the door close behind them, Alex looking around nervously as if the universe was going to punish him for being in a girls’ bathroom and Luke still glowering at Carrie.

“Jag är en trollkarl!” Reggie said gamely, and Carrie snorted.

“Nej,” she said. “Det är du inte.” The rest of the room gawked at her.

“You speak Swedish?” Julie asked, and Carrie tossed her hair.

“What, like it’s hard? And I knew they weren’t really holograms. Spill, Molina. I want to know what’s going on, and why your guitarist looks like he wants to flay me alive.” 

Julie’s brain whirred as she tried to come up with a decent explanation that wouldn’t sound insane, and she saw Alex slap a preemptive hand over Reggie’s mouth.

And then, in an excellent example of the universe deciding that Julie’s life wasn’t already difficult enough, Willie poofed into the room.

“Hey, Hotdog!” he said, beaming at Alex. “Why are we chilling in a girls’ bathroom?”

“AND WHO THE HELL IS THAT GUY, AND HOW DID HE APPEAR OUT OF THIN AIR?” Carrie shrieked, and Julie realised the truth was the only way out of this one.

“They’re ghosts,” Julie said, and Carrie gaped at her. “I know, it sounds insane, but they are. They’re ghosts. That’s how they can appear and disappear at will.”

“We’re ghosts because your father killed us. And stole our songs!” Luke glared, and Julie wished she was close enough to Luke to smack him for making this whole thing more complicated.

Fortunately, Alex did it for her. Alex was the _best_.

“Woah, really?” Willie asked. “That’s heavy. Hi, I’m Willie. Your dad didn’t kill me,” he said to Carrie. “Skating in traffic killed me.”

“We’re ghosts,” Alex confirmed. “We died 25 years ago —”

“Right when we were about to play the biggest gig of our lives!” Luke interrupted, and Alex clapped his hand back over Luke’s mouth to stop him saying anything else.

Then grimaced as Luke clearly licked his palm. “— and somehow Julie brought us back,” Alex finished, smearing his hand on Luke's shoulder. “Well, band-us anyway. We worked out that people could hear us when we played our instruments or sang, and around Julie, people can see us too.”

“It works for those of us not in the band too when we’re near Julie,” said Willie, gesturing at himself. “Ta-dah.”

Carrie narrowed her eyes and reached out to poke a hand through Willie. “This can’t be happening.”

Julie tried to look reassuring. “It is happening. Sorry?”

Carrie stepped forward around Willie and also poked at the guys, Alex looking nervous, Reggie looking like a puppy as usual and Luke glaring at the girl. He tried to bat her hand away but passed right through her.

“They can what, touch things but not people?” Carrie asked, looking at the bathroom door.

“Yeah, we don’t really know how it works,” Julie admitted. “And even the touching things doesn’t always work properly all the time.”

Carrie was silent for a bit, looking between the ghosts and Julie, and then nodded slowly. “So. Ghost band.”

“Yeah, ghost band.”

"We're only ghosts because your dad killed us," Luke said, and this time it seemed like Alex and Reggie actually heard what he was saying. "Otherwise, we'd be the biggest band of all time."

"My dad never killed anyone," Carrie said as Reggie asked: "But I thought the hotdogs killed us?" 

"I found an old photo," Like explained. "Of Julie's mom at the Orpheum the night we died. Bobby was in the background, shaking hands with Caleb."

"Bobby made a deal," Alex said, his voice horrified, and Reggie looked like he was about to cry. 

"Bobby got us killed?" he asked. "But he was my friend! I lent him my best flannel!" Alex patted Reggie on the shoulder in sympathy.

“Who’s Caleb? And why would my dad make a deal with him? How does my dad even know you guys?”

“Caleb’s a ghost,” said Willie. “He’s really powerful. And he likes to make deals with the living.”

“Your dad was in our band, back when we were all teenagers in the 90s and he went by the name ‘Bobby’,” Alex said. “Together, we were _Sunset Curve_.”

“Tell your friends!” Reggie said, but Julie thought he sounded like his heart wasn’t in it.

“Your dad was always a dick,” said Luke, and when the others protested he just got louder. “He was, okay? He was an okay rhythm guitarist, but he was always flaking out on practices, and he never helped with the lyrics, or with setting up Alex’s kit, and you _know_ we’d already said we’d kick him out if we could find a place to practice that wasn’t his garage. Bobby was just in the band to get with chicks. He wanted the fame, but not to put in the hard work.”

Julie’s brain hurt. “So Mr. Wilson made a deal with Caleb to what? Make sure he was the most famous member of _Sunset Curve_?”

“I mean, it did work,” Willie shrugged. “Even I know who Trevor Wilson is. He’s easily the most famous member of _Sunset Curve_ , a band most people don’t remember ever existed.”

“All of your dad’s hits were our songs,” Luke said. “My songs. He even stole _My Name is Luke!_ _My_ name is Luke!”

Julie watched as Carrie frowned, and wondered if the blonde was also thinking back to all those times they’d pestered Mr. Wilson when they were younger, asking him about song-writing and never quite understanding the answers.

“But what was in it for Caleb?” Alex asked. “Let’s say the deal is for Bobby to be the most famous member of _Sunset Curve_ — did we have to die? And what did Caleb get out of it?”

“The traditional price is the soul of your first-born,” a soft voice said, and Julie and Carrie spun around to see Kayla behind him.

“Kayla? Have you been here the whole time?” Carrie asked. “Nice of you to say nothing.”

Kayla rolled her eyes, and then to Julie’s shock the girl _flickered_. She poofed across the room, just like the boys could, and back again. Kayla flickered and her outfit changed, first into her _Dirty Candy_ costume and then into a sparkly blue number, before returning to the cute sundress she’d been wearing to school that day.

“I died on June 6, 1943, in a riot over _clothing_ of all fucking things,” Kayla said. “Caleb found me soon after and before I knew what had happened, the bastard had his mark on me and I was his. I’ve been doing his dirty work ever since.”

Carrie narrowed her eyes. “Am I his dirty work?”

Kayla looked guilty and nodded, and Jullie felt _awful_. “Caleb ordered me to be your friend,” Kayla said. “He didn’t tell me why, but from what the boys have just said...I think I can work it out.”

“My dad made a deal with a ghost-wizard — the ghost would kill three random guys, and his reward was my soul.”

“We weren’t just random guys,” Luke hissed, and Julie was glad Alex immediately shushed him. _Now is not the time, Luke_ , she thought as she watched Carrie wrap her arms around herself.

“Was it just keeping an eye on me?” Carrie asked. “Or was there more? And what does owning my soul mean? I’m not a ghost. I’m still alive.”

Kayla looked like she was about to cry. “Caleb...he uses music. It’s how he gets a lot of his power. When he assigned me to you, he called you his best investment yet. The more success you have, the more power he draws from you. A _lot_ of obstacles got...smoothed before they could affect you. Caleb’s been feeding off you for your whole life, Carrie. Everytime you sing, or dance, or play an instrument, he gets a boost. You’re his own personal power source.”

_Oh no_ , Julie thought, and she reached out to Carrie, feeling her heart break for her former friend, but Carrie stepped out of reach before her hand could make contact.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” she asked. 

“It didn’t seem to matter!” Kayla said hurriedly. “You never seemed to feel any ill effects, so I figured it would be fine.”

“It would be fine that this guy I’ve never met is using me for his own purposes without me knowing about it? Fine that my own father bargained with my soul for fame and apparently got his friends killed? Fine that my best friend just happens to be a ghost assigned to spy on me? _HOW IS ANY OF THIS FINE_?”

“Carrie —” Kayla started to say, but Carrie shook her head, a tear slipping down her face.

“No. I don’t believe it. I can’t believe it. This...this is too much. It’s too much. I can’t.” She moved towards the door, the guys stepping aside to let her pass, and Carrie stopped. She looked back at Julie. “You know what? Fuck you, Molina. Even when you come to try and comfort me, you somehow make it all worse. It’s quite a talent.”

With that, she stormed out of the room, the door crashing back and only barely missing Reggie. Julie felt herself start to tear up — the very idea of what Mr. Wilson had done to her friends, had done to _Carrie_ was awful. Luke stepped closer and gathered her into a gentle hug as she started to cry.

“Woah, what happened?” Flynn said as she shoved her way into the bathroom. “Why did Carrie just storm out? Why is Julie crying? And why are we all here? There is limited time until my parents check their email and learn I have detention and ground me for the rest of my natural life, so come on, I want to get ice cream while we still can!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Swedish translation:  
> “I’m a wizard!” Reggie said gamely, and Carrie snorted.
> 
> “No,” she said. “You’re not.” The rest of the room gawked at her. 


	5. Chapter 5

Alex wasn’t sure he was really feeling it after the scene in the bathroom, but apparently their little stunt had gotten Flynn two weeks of detention for ‘foul language and malicious conduct’ and she was serious about getting ice cream before her parents found out and grounded her. So she’d chivvied them all into a nearby diner and they were all crammed into a booth to catch Flynn up on the bathroom conversation.

Alex was kinda confused why Kayla was still with them, but he was also kinda grateful. She was the oldest ghost, and she knew the most about Caleb and how his deals worked, and after the past few weeks of rehearsals he’d started to appreciate her friendship.

Plus she made Reggie light up like it was Christmas every time she smiled at him, and Alex thought it was adorable. Reggie wasn’t made to look sad.

Kayla herself looked pretty sad after Carrie had stormed out of the bathroom, and Alex suspected that while her friendship with Carrie may have started as a job from Caleb, it had actually become genuine since then. Alex noted that while Julie was a little more wary of Kayla, Flynn had whole-heartedly accepted the ghost as her friend and was just rolling with the situation.

Anyway, Alex hadn’t been able to work out how to broach the whole ‘hey, you’re apparently a super-powerful witch’ conversation with Julie without giving away their surprise performance, and he was hoping that maybe Kayla would tell Julie for him.

Alex had long ago come to terms with the fact that he could be a coward sometimes. Conversations were hard. Hiding behind drums was easier.

He looked sideways to where Willie was jammed up against him in the booth and bit his lip. _But maybe sometimes the hard conversations are worth it_ , he thought, thinking back to Kayla’s encouragement at rehearsal last week. He leaned into Willie a bit more and the other ghost looked over at him with a smile then tangled their fingers together under the table. _Yeah, okay, gotta have that conversation_ , Alex thought to himself. _I want to ask him to be my boyfriend. It’s time to own my awesomeness_.

“So when were you going to share that you'd worked out eating again, huh?” Luke asked, watching enviously as Reggie made a happy noise as he bit into the burger he’d ordered.

Alex grinned as he slurped at his milkshake. “It’s all about the intent,” he said. “Or like, the lack of it. Stop thinking about how you can’t eat, and you’ll be able to eat.”

“It’s that easy?” Luke asked, looking at Kayla for confirmation, and she stole one of Reggie’s fries and nodded.

“It’s that easy. Things are only hard if you make them hard,” she said, and Alex refused to look at Kayla because he knew she’d be laughing at him. 

_“So I just have to...not think about it?” Alex had asked as Kayla offered him the bag of chips. He carefully picked one up, and she’d nodded._

_“If you think about it, you’ll realise you can’t do it. So don’t think about it. Just eat. It’s like sitting in a chair — you don’t think about how you’re sitting in that chair, right? You’re just doing it. You’re not thinking about the molecules in you touching the molecules in the chair and how that shouldn’t be possible-”_

_The rest of her lecture had been lost to laughter as Alex_ had _promptly started thinking about how his molecules were touching the chair’s molecules and had fallen through the chair and landed halfway through the floor._

“...huh,” Luke said, also reaching out to steal one of Reggie’s fries, except Reggie batted his hand away with a frown.

“Get your own!” he said, pulling the plate closer and hunching over it.

“You let her take one!” Luke said, gesturing to Kayla, and Reggie blushed.

“You’re not her,” he mumbled, and Kayla stuck her tongue out at Luke.

“So nyeah,” she said, and stole another fry.

Luke narrowed his eyes at Reggie and then turned to Julie, who was squished in beside Luke. “Julie?” he asked, pulling out what Alex recognised as Grade Three Weaponized Puppy Dog Eyes. “Could I please have a nacho?”

Alex fought to keep from laughing as Julie visibly melted and shifted her arm so Luke could grab one off her plate. “Sure, Luke,” she said with a smile.

The whole table watched as Luke grabbed a nacho, carefully nudged a piece of jalapeno onto it, and brought it to his mouth.

Alex hoped like hell this would work, and the nacho wouldn’t fall through Luke’s mouth and land on the table and call attention to them, but he guessed they looked like any other group of teenagers crowded into the diner after school. At least, that’s what he hoped.

But he was worried for nothing, because Luke successfully got the nacho into his mouth, chewed, and then opened his mouth to show them that he’d swallowed.

The table broke into a round of polite golf clapping and Luke did a dorky little bow in his seat — then proceeded to steal more of Julie’s food. 

She let him with an adoring smile on her face and Alex felt his heart go all squishy. _Those crazy kids_ , he thought, and shared a grin with Willie.

“Would you let me eat your nachos, Hotdog?” Willie asked him quietly, and Alex shook his head.

“Not if you keep reminding me of the most traumatising night of my life,” he responded, but he smiled so Willie would know he was joking.

“I dunno, man, if you guys hadn’t died we wouldn’t have met,” Willie said. “And that would have really bummed me out.”

“Yeah?” asked Alex.

“Yeah,” said Willie, and Alex was instantly aware that the last time they’d hugged had been right before that Orpheum show and really wanted to hug Willie again now.

But, like, they were in a crowded booth with all of their friends and he couldn’t just hug the other guy, right? Instead, Alex yawned and stretched his arms up over his head, making sure to drop one down over Willie’s shoulder as he reached for his milkshake with the other.

Alex then made the mistake of looking over at Kayla, who was staring at him with an amused look on her face. “Smooth,” she mouthed, and Alex kinda couldn’t find it in himself to care.

Their waitress dropped off a platter of loaded fries and more sodas for them, and for a while there, Alex forced away his worries and concerns about Bobby and Caleb and what was going to happen next and focused on enjoying his time with his friends and the feeling of Willie’s shoulder under his arm.

But all things must come to an end eventually, and Kayla’s watch started to let out an insistent beeping. “Gotta go,” she said as she silenced it. “I need to pick up Annabelle from daycare. This has been pretty fun — you guys aren’t the complete losers I thought you were.”

“Thanks?” said Julie, while Flynn looked mildly murderous.

“Ugh, I’m not good at actual human conversation,” Kayla said. “Let me try that again: this has been fun. I like your band, they’re cute. If you can work out how to get me free of Caleb, I’ll like, owe you big time. There, was that better?”

“We’ll take it,” Julie said with a grin. “Too much time being a mean girl?”

“Boo, you whore,” Kayla said, and Alex _saw_ Luke bristle and then look confused as Flynn and Julie just laughed.

Kayla nudged Reggie. “Move over?” she asked, and Reggie slid out of the booth to let her out, Alex watching as his face fell as he realised that Kayla really was leaving.

Reggie smiled awkwardly once Kayla was standing, and held out her jacket for her to put on. As she pulled her hair out from under her collar, Reggie went to slide back into the booth, but Kayla put her hand on his arm.

“Walk me out?” she asked, and Reggie’s face lit up with happiness.

* * *

_Oh god, oh god, why did I do that?_ Kayla panicked as Reggie held open the diner door for her. She pulled out her phone and summoned an Uber before looking back up at the boy who was rocking back and forth on his heels beside her, his eyes never leaving her face. While she could just poof from place to place, she’d found it useful to try and act like a lifer as much as possible when out in public. It minimised the awkward questions and strange looks. Besides, it was Caleb’s money. Kayla was going to spend as much of it as she could.

 _You asked him out here because you like him_ , she reminded herself. _And you’re not Caleb’s creature. You’re not._

“So,” Reggie said, then stopped himself with a blush.

“So,” Kayla agreed as the app beeped. Her Uber was a few minutes away. She decided to be brave. “I really enjoyed spending time with you guys,” she said. “It’s nice to have more ghost friends,” she said, chickening out right at the last minute.

“Yeah, I guess it must be pretty hard being around lifers all the time, not being able to be yourself,” he said, his beautiful face shining with innocence, and Kayla found herself grinning. 

“It’s not as bad as trying to keep a straight face around lifers who can’t see the ghost shaking his butt in front of the entire school,” she said, and was amused when he blushed.

“You could see that,” he said, his voice strangled. “Oh god, you could see that. Okay, well, it’s been nice knowing you, I’m going now,” he said and she reached out to grab his arm before he could disappear on her.

“Yeah, I saw that,” she said, squeezing his arm. “Good thing it was a cute butt.”

He gaped at her as her Uber pulled up, and Kayla manifested a marker in her jacket pocket. She pulled it out and pushed up the sleeve of his jacket, then scrawled her number on his arm and ended it with a little heart.

“Call me,” she said with a wink and got into the Uber. As it drove away she looked back to see Reggie break out into a dorky little dance, and Kayla smiled to herself.

 _Maybe this whole afterlife thing won’t always suck_ , she thought.

* * *

“Hey, Carrie! I’m gonna meditate!” her dad called as he got home, as he usually did, and Carrie frowned at the papers spread out before her.

“Dad, can you come in here, please?” she asked. “I’m in your office.”

Her dad appeared at the door, sunglasses firmly on inside, even though she’d _told_ him several times that that was a dumb look that only douchebags did.

“What are you doing in here, honey?” he asked, and Carrie folded her hands in front of her. She gestured to the seat on the other side of the desk.

“Sit down, Dad,” she said. “We need to have a talk.”

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” Her dad said as he walked forward, clearly humouring her. “I feel like I’ve been called to the principal’s office or something,” he joked, and Carrie didn’t smile. He sat, taking his sunglasses off and glanced at the desk.

Carrie saw his face blanch and she knew the wild story Julie and her band had told her in the bathroom was true. But she forced herself to start talking, because she had to _know_. She wanted to hear it from her dad.

Carrie didn’t know who her mom was. She’d never known. She’d thought it had been the only secret her dad had ever kept from her — and he’d promised to tell her on her 18th birthday — but now she realised her Dad had a lot of other secrets. And the time had come for her to learn some of them.

“I heard something at school today,” she started, hating that she couldn’t stop her voice from trembling. “At first, I thought it was just some nasty gossip, but now…” She pushed forward the insert from the _Sunset Curve_ demo she’d found in her dad’s filing cabinet. He hadn’t even bothered to lock it. It was like he wasn’t even trying.

The demo was pretty damning — Luke, Reggie and Alex looked exactly the same as they did now, and the list of the tracks had “Patterson” in brackets beside every one. 

Every track that her father had gone on to record and claim credit for — _Late Last Night, Lakeside Reflection, Into Your Starlight,_ and _Get Lost_. Every single one of the tracks from this demo had been on her Dad’s debut record. They’d all gone at least gold as singles, and her dad hadn’t written a single one of them.

“So which one was Patterson, Dad?” she asked, gesturing at the photo of the guys with their first names written over them. “Alex, Luke or Reggie? Which one of these guys wrote the songs that made you famous? And where are they now?”

 _I know the answers_ , she said. _But I want to hear it from you_.

Her dad hesitated, and when he looked at her she shook her head slightly. 

_Come on Dad,_ Carrie thought. _Tell the truth._

Slowly he reached forward and tapped Luke’s picture. “His name was Luke. Luke Patterson. He was an amazing songwriter. He was my friend.”

“So why have I never met him?” Carrie asked. “Where is he now?”

Her dad sighed. “Until that _Panic!_ show at the Orpheum, I would have said six feet under. But he’s back, somehow. They’re all back and playing with Julie. And I guess my time has run out.”

“Yeah, I think it has.” Carrie pushed forward another piece of paper. “Who’s Caleb Covington, Dad? And why did you bargain away my soul?”

Her Dad shattered in front of her, tears filling his eyes. “Oh, god,” he said, his voice strangled. “Carrie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think...it wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”

“Happen like what?” she asked, and when her dad hesitated again she lost her temper. “And don’t lie! You’ve been lying to me my entire life! Stop it! Tell the truth! Is your name even Trevor?”

“My middle name,” he said. “Robert Trevor Wilson. But Bobby Wilson was a part of _Sunset Curve_ , and as part of my deal with Caleb, Bobby Wilson had to disappear.”

“What was the deal, Dad?” Carrie asked, her voice cracking. She pressed her hands to the desk to stop them trembling. “What did you do?”

 ~~Her Dad~~ _Robert_ pushed the paper with his and Caleb’s signatures on it back to her. “You’ve read this. You know what it says. I made a deal with Caleb Covington: in exchange for making me the most famous member of _Sunset Curve_ , he’d own the soul of my first-born child.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can thank [LuvnTheJukebox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalahadsGurl/pseuds/LuvnTheJukebox), [VicesVsVirtues](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VicesVsVirtues/pseuds/VicesVsVirtues) and [EmmaJosanne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmaJosanne) for the bit where Luke sticks his tongue out to show he swallowed. They’re all big fans of that gif...


	6. Chapter 6

When Reggie got back to the booth, they all pretended they hadn’t been watching through the window, but Alex couldn’t help but smile at Reggie’s starry-eyed expression.

“She said I have a cute butt!”

Their moment of merriment was silenced by the _Imperial March_ ringing out, and all eyes turned to Flynn’s phone where a picture of her mother had appeared on screen.

With a gulp, Flynn reached out and answered it. “Mom! Hi,” she started, and then fell silent. You didn’t need supernatural powers to hear the yelling coming from the phone, and Flynn slumped forward to rest her head on the table as her mom continued to yell. Julie patted her on the arm before standing up to pay, and Alex started to stack their dirty dishes. He’d been a waiter one summer. It had sucked.

Outside the diner, they all gave Flynn a hug before their friend jumped into Veronica and tore off. Julie pulled out her phone to get an Uber, and Alex waved at her before grabbing Willie’s hand. “Hey, want to take a walk?” he asked, and Willie’s smile made Alex’s heart want to stop.

Again.

“Sure,” Willie said. “Lay on, MacDuff.”

They wandered for a while, not really going anywhere in particular, until at one point Alex looked over and saw how the setting sun lit up Willie’s cheekbones and Alex realised he wanted to look at Willie like this for the rest of his life. Or unlife.

Whatever. _Face first, full charge_ , he thought. _Now or never_.

“Hey, Willie,” he said, drawing them to a stop. “I like you,” he confessed. 

Willie smiled. “I like you too, Hotdog.”

“No, Willie,” Alex said, grabbing his other hand and turning them so they faced each other. He titled his head to make sure he could catch Willie’s eyes. “I like you-like you.”

“You like me-like me?” Willie asked, a smile blooming on his face. “I like you-like you too!”

_Oh my god, we sound like teenage girls_ , a part of Alex said, but a bigger part of him was screaming because _Willie likes me-likes me!_

“Do you like me-like me enough to be my boyfriend?” Alex asked, knowing he sounded ridiculous but honestly not caring.

“Definitely,” Willie said. “Especially if it means I can kiss you. Like, properly kiss you.”

“Oh thank god,” Alex said. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you for so long.”

With a happy grin, he leaned in and met Willie’s lips in a gentle kiss. It was everything Alex had ever dreamed of, and he felt like he was flying while still staying on the ground.

* * *

“So how long should I wait to call her?” Reggie asked as they walked through the yard to the Molina house. “Is it still three days? It was three days back in the 90s.”

“You should definitely wait three days,” said Luke. “You don’t want to appear too eager.”

Julie whacked Luke on his arm before digging around in her bag for her keys. “Luke! That is terrible advice. Reggie, there’s nothing wrong with messaging someone right away if you like them. It’s sweet. It shows you’re excited about spending time with them.”

Reggie lit up and Julie couldn’t help but imagine ears and a wagging tail on her friend. He looked _just_ like the human equivalent of a puppy.

“Really? Should I call her now?” he asked, and Julie giggled.

“Maybe tonight is a bit soon,” she said as she unlocked the door. “Also, if you wait until tomorrow, that gives us time to get you your own phone. So no one else can go through your messages and see things that you think should be private.”

Reggie hugged her in excitement and bounced into the house. Luke spun around and positioned himself in front of Julie, blocking her way. “And who has been sending messages to you that you think should be private, Jules? Anything you want to share with the class?”

“If they’re private, that means they’re private. _Boundaries_ , Luke,” she said. _Ugh, boys_. “And anyway, what’s it to you if someone is sending me messages like that?”

She stepped around Luke, leaving him spluttering, and froze partway into the house when she realised that her grandmother was sitting at the dining table, watching them with an amused expression on her craggy face. “Abuela!” she said, looking at where her dad also sat at the table, looking uncomfortable. “I didn’t know you were coming for a visit.”

“Nor did I, _mija_ ,” Abuela said, offering a cheek for Julie to kiss. “But then I burned my mofongo, and my Viki called me, and I knew a visit was long overdue. _Dios mío_ ,” she said, “you look just like my Rosi did at your age.”

“She’s getting more like her every day,” her dad said, and Abuela nodded. 

“Si, si,” Abuela said. “And based on the fact there are two ghost boys currently standing in your house, I’m guessing her powers have started to manifest too, haven’t they?”

* * *

“I knew Julie was a witch!” Reggie said, and Luke glared at Reggie because _now was not the time, Reginald_.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but what?” he asked, trying to remember how to use the Hopeful But Polite Young Man expression he’d practiced in the mirror to persuade adults with. “Reggie and I aren’t —”

The old woman held up her hand and Luke felt his mouth snap shut against his will. “You weren’t going to lie to an _anciana_ , were you _mijo_? I can see your aura, you know. His and yours both say dead; hers says witch.”

She scowled at him, and Luke realised where he’d seen this woman before — in the Molina family photo album, glaring at Bobby in every photo.

“Abuela,” Julie said, sliding a cup of tea in front of her grandmother, “I don’t understand. You can see auras? I’m a witch?”

“You’re a Miranda,” Abuela said. “Of course you’re a witch. I told your mother you would be, but she didn’t believe me. _‘No, mamá,_ ’ she said. _‘Mi Julie no es una bruja, no tiene magia. ¡Ella es solo una niña normal!_ ’ With your voice? Please. Even as a toddler, it was clear you were going to have power, but your mother refused to see it. She was so determined to be a gringa that she turned away from our traditions.”

_Fuck_ , Luke thought. _When I said Julie had power, I didn’t mean it so literally._ But he was kinda worried about someone criticising Julie’s mom, even if it was Julie’s Abuela.

“Magic?” Julie asked, her voice small and confused, and Luke couldn’t stop himself from reaching out to grab her hand. She clung to him, and Reggie poofed over to join them, taking Julie’s other hand. “I have magic?”

“So much, _mija_ ,” her Abuela said. “I can see it around you. It’s untamed, and wild, but strong.”

“No, that’s…” Julie looked terrified. “That’s bad, right?”

“Oh, _Dios mío_ , don’t look so scared. La magia is a _good_ thing, especially when it’s linked to the people and the things you love. Look at my cousin Luis’ boy. He’s doing great things with his gift out in New York.”

“So it’s not evil? _I’m_ not evil?” Julie asked, and Luke realised that Julie had been worried that she was _evil_ , that she was like _Caleb_ , that she was going to hurt people and suddenly just holding her hand wasn’t enough. He moved to wrap his arms around her. He’d keep her safe, and help her stand on her own, and do whatever he needed to do to help Julie realise there was no way she, Julie Rosarita Molina, the girl with the voice like an angel and a spirit so pure and good that Luke sometimes thought he could see it shining out of her, could ever be evil.

Could ever be like _Caleb_.

“Oh, no, no,” Abuela said, standing and coming over to them. As she got nearer Luke realised the old woman smelled like fresh baked cookies, and he relaxed. It was hard to feel afraid when you could smell fresh baked cookies. “Magic isn’t evil, not on it’s own. Magic just is. It’s what you do with it that matters. You’ll learn. It’s all about intent,” she finished as she patted Julie on the cheek.

Abuela stepped back and looked at all three of them. “You boys look hungry,” she said, and Reggie nodded enthusiastically. “I haven’t been here for a while, but I should be able to pull something together. You, in particular,” she gestured to Reggie. “You look like you’d appreciate good carne asada. Come, come, help an old lady in the kitchen.”

She walked into the kitchen, gesturing for Ray to follow her as well, which he did with only a few backwards looks at Julie. Luke pulled Julie over to the other side of the stairs to where they could have a bit of privacy.

“Julie? Are you okay?” Luke asked, cupping her face in his hands as he had after their show at the Orpheum, as he’d wanted to do every day since.

She drew in a breath, a little gasping thing, and tucked her chin down, causing her hair to fall over her face. With one hand he reached out and gently tucked her hair back behind her ear.

“It’s just...it’s a lot,” Julie said. “Today has been a lot. First, Flynn and Alex’s performance, and then the news about Bobby and you guys, and then Carrie, and then Kayla being a ghost, and now Abuela’s here and apparently I’m a witch or something and...it’s a lot.”

Luke drew Julie into a hug as she started to sniffle, resting his head on her hair as he hummed quietly for her. He could feel her hands clutching tight at his shirt and he slowly smoothed his hands up and down her back, hoping it would help her feel better.

After not nearly long enough, Julie pulled back from his chest, her face blotchy but Luke still thought she looked beautiful. 

His traitorous brain tried to return to the image it had created earlier, of Julie in a wedding dress looking up at him at the altar, and his heart leaped with hope.

“Whatever it is, we’ll be with you for it,” Luke said. “I’ll be with you for it, whatever happens.”

“Promise?” Julie asked, and he tilted her chin up so he could look her in the eye. 

“I promise,” he said. “I, Lucas Mitchell Patterson, will never leave your side, even if you turn out to be the most evil witch ever known.”

“As long as I keep my nose, I’ll be fine,” she giggled, and it was all Luke could do not to lean forward to press a kiss to her perfect little button nose.

Instead, he managed to limit himself to booping it with a calloused finger. “I have no idea what that’s a reference to, but I mean it. I’ll be here for you as long as you want. Alex and Reggie, too. You gave us our music back, Julie. Like I said, no music is worth making, Julie, if we’re not making it with you. We’ll be by your side as long as you want us to be here. Wild horses couldn’t drag us away,” he finished, glad to see a smile on her lips at last.

Her perfect, utterly kissable lips, and her father and grandmother were _right there_ and Luke stepped back with a cough.

“Better?” he asked, and Julie nodded.

“Better,” she said, then looked at his shirt and winced. “Sorry, I made a mess of your —” she waved at him, and Luke looked down. Those were definitely tears on his shirt, and maybe snot, and was that...lip gloss?

Luke very definitely did not reach out to see if he could get some of that lip gloss on his finger to see what kissing Julie would taste like. And he definitely didn’t plan on doing that later. Nope, not at all.

“No biggie,” he said, quickly poofing to the studio and changing his shirt as fast as he could before poofing back. “See?” he said, spreading his arms wide, and Julie giggled.

“Um, that’s inside out. And backwards,” she said, and Luke looked down at himself.

“Oh!” he said, knowing he was going bright red and feeling mortified. He tugged his shirt off and turned it the right way around, then paused before pulling it back on. Julie’s eyes were locked on his chest and he froze. _She’s looking right at my weird chest dimple_ , he thought. He’d always been self-conscious about that, but then he looked closer and realising that Julie was nibbling her lip and she didn’t look _upset_. So he flexed.

“See something you like?” Luke said with a wink, trying to make his voice more flirtatious, and was rewarded by Julie turning red and taking a step back.

Luke lowered his arms, his shirt still off, and stepped towards Julie — and was then rudely interrupted by Alex poofing into the room, making Julie startle forward, straight into Luke’s arms.

Julie was warm and soft in his arms, and he was standing there with no shirt on, and he didn’t know if he wanted to kiss Alex for spooking Julie into his arms or smack him for interrupting them. 

“Willie agreed to be my boyfriend!” Alex cried, pulling Julie out of Luke’s arms and into the air and spinning her around. “I have a boyfriend!” Alex looked like he’d been out in the rain and now that Luke was aware of things other than the perfection of Julie in his arms, he could hear rain falling outside.

Luke quickly tugged his shirt on, knowing that the moment had definitely passed. “I’m happy for you, man,” Luke said, and he meant it. He then squeaked as Alex dropped Julie to the ground and lunged for Luke, pulling him into a noogie before kissing him on the top of his head.

“I have a boyfriend!” Alex cheered again, bounding across to the kitchen. “Reggie, Ray, did you hear?”

Reggie barely had time to put the spoon down and step away from the stove before Alex was on him, pulling Reggie up off the ground and spinning him around just like he’d done to Julie, and there was chaos as Abuela and Ray tried to get the overly excited ghost to a) put Reggie down and b) get out of the kitchen before he knocked their dinner to the floor.

Laughing beside him, Julie grabbed Luke’s hand. “Come on,” she said, tugging him towards the couch. “Alex! Come over here. I want to hear all about it!” she said as she pushed Luke down on the couch and settled beside him, and Alex bounded across the room in like three giant steps, apparently too excited to remember how to poof.

Luke wasn’t _entirely_ sure he wanted to hear about how the first boy he’d ever kissed had gotten a boyfriend, but he’d meant it when he first saw how Alex was around Willie at the Hollywood Ghost Club. He _was_ happy for Alex, and for Willie. He just...Alex had apparently asked Willie out, and Kayla had given Reggie her number, and while Julie was sitting under his arm he didn’t know what to do about their ‘interesting little relationship’. He didn’t want to do anything to mess it up. He loved Julie, with all the certainty that the world was round and his guitar was part of his soul and that the sun would rise and set every day, he was _terrified_ that she didn’t love him back.

That she didn’t love him the way he loved her.

That she’d move on, and leave him behind. She was a lifer, and brilliant, and she had _such_ a bright future in front of her.

And he was a ghost.

He was dead.

He wouldn’t change; wouldn’t age. And she would. She’d finish high school, and probably go off to college, and she’d get a recording contract and record a bunch of platinum albums and win all the awards it was possible to win and her music and her voice would change people’s lives and he’d…

He’d still be living in her family’s garage with his band, never aging. Always playing the same old songs, always wondering what Julie was doing at that moment. Always wondering if she still thought about him at all.

He once again found himself picturing Julie at her wedding, but this time, he wasn’t at the altar with her. He was at the back, dressed in his ratty 90s clothes, as she married someone else.

He forced the thoughts away and turned his face so he was resting his cheek on the top of Julie’s hair, the soft peach fragrance of her shampoo filling his nose. _I’ll just keep dreaming like we’ll be like this forever_ , he thought. _Just let me dream with her for a little longer_ , he begged the universe, knowing that there was no one to hear his prayer.

He caught Abuela’s eye as the old woman walked towards them with a platter of food, and the understanding in her eyes cut Luke to the core. He closed his eyes rather than face her truth, and tucked himself closer around Julie.

_If this is all the time I get with her_ , he thought, _I’m not going to miss a minute of it_. Julie pulled away from him and Luke was about to panic when he realised she was just reaching forward to load up a taco, the rest of her family settling onto the other couches and chairs in the living room and Carlos bounding down the stairs to exchange an elaborate high five with Reggie, and shook himself.

_Don’t borrow trouble_ , he heard his mother saying all those years ago, when he was still a kid having adventures and getting into scraps. _You find enough all on your own — you don’t need to actually seek out more_.

He reached over to grab a taco of his own — he wasn’t that hungry, still not used to needing food, but it gave him something to do with his hands — but before he could pick anything up the doorbell rang. Seeing that everyone else had their hands full, Luke pushed himself up and went to open the door — then glared at who was on the other side.

* * *

Carrie stared out the window at the hateful LA weather.

The light from the setting sun dappled off the pool and off in the distance, a bird chirped a happy little song. It felt like it had been days since she’d learned the truth in a girls’ bathroom, but it had barely been a few hours.

_It should at least be raining_ , she thought, glaring at the beautifully clear sky. _A nice thunderstorm feels like it would be really appropriate right now_.

But no. Because the universe hated her, the weather refused to match the storm currently raging in Carrie’s heart, and it just made her madder.

_I never meant to have a kid_ , her dad had said. _You can’t give someone your first-born if you don’t have a first-born, right? And I didn’t think Caleb would kill the guys. I just...Luke was such a showman, always in the spotlight, and the world loved him for it. And Reggie was beloved by the fans, always flirting with the pretty girls and having a new girlfriend every week and Alex had his devoted groupies and I...no one cared about me. No one even_ looked _at me when the others were around. I was the last to join the band, and I knew I was the most disposable. There were thousands of teenagers in LA who could do what I could do. The only thing I brought to the band was the rehearsal space, and I knew the others were trying to find another space so they could kick me out of the band. So I made the deal, thinking that Caleb would just work some magic to make me more popular than Luke. But he killed them. And suddenly I was the most famous member of_ Sunset Curve _, because I was the only remaining member of_ Sunset Curve _. I had a notebook of songs Luke had written, a notebook of_ hits _, and Caleb urging me on, and...I did it. I claimed those songs for my own._

_But I_ never _meant to have a kid_ , her dad had insisted. _When I realised what Caleb had done I knew I was trapped and I didn’t want to drag anyone else down with me. I was so careful — so, so careful. But it was the anniversary, and it had been years since they’d died, and I’d just gotten back from my first big tour playing their songs, playing_ Luke’s _songs, and I was drinking, and Alice came over and joined me. I know we shouldn’t have, but...nine months later you were dropped off at my door._

Carrie had filed away the fact her mother was called Alice, but hadn’t interrupted. 

_The first thing I did was call my lawyer. The second thing I did was call Rose. Rose had been there, the night the boys had died. She’d held me as I’d gotten the news. It took a while, but even she forgot the boys in the end, and that’s when Caleb told me to release_ Trevor Wilson _. But she was still my friend, and she was pregnant, and I knew nothing about babies so I called her and Ray._ Her dad had smiled at her then, and Carrie had hated him for it. _We really meant it when we said you and Julie were friends from the moment she was born._

Carrie remembered when she’d stopped being friends with Julie. Mrs. Molina had come over to their house really upset one night, and had screamed at her dad. Something about ‘they trusted you! And you stole from them!’. Carrie hadn’t meant to overhear, but their house was pretty echo-y, and now Carrie realised Mrs. Molina had probably found something that reminded her of _Sunset Curve_. That broke whatever magic Caleb had put on the world to make everyone forget.

Mrs. Molina had probably been right, but at the time all Carrie knew was that Mrs. Molina, the only mother she’d ever really known, had been yelling at her dad. And Carrie loved her dad. It had always been the two of them, together against the world, even through all the Swedish bikini models her dad had dated. So she didn’t like Mrs. Molina anymore. Which meant she couldn’t like Julie. And Flynn had sided with Julie, and Carrie had been all alone and terrified of going to high school with no friends, but then Kayla had smiled at her on the first day and she’d overheard people calling her pretty and ‘Trevor Wilson’s daughter’ and had put her on a pedestal and Nick had asked her out on a date and suddenly she was Carrie Wilson, Queen Bee of Los Feliz High, and it was all a lie.

Because her dad was a thief, and a ghost owned her soul, and Kayla was a spy. And Carrie was once again all alone.

She’d kicked her dad out. This house had been built with stolen money, and everything Carrie knew was a lie, and she didn’t want to see her dad again. He’d gone...somewhere. Carrie didn’t care.

She’d probably care again later, but right now...she just didn’t. Couldn’t. Whatever.

But she didn’t want to be alone. She was Carrie Wilson, Queen Bee and Tough Bitch, but right now...she wanted comfort. She wanted a hug. She wanted someone to tell her it was all going to be okay.

She turned and looked back at her house. It was cold and sterile, and now that she’d pulled all of her father’s posters and stuff down from the walls it was empty and white.

A flash of colour caught her eye and she stared at the dahlias on the kitchen bench. _Mrs. Molina loved dahlias_ , she remembered, thinking of the time Mrs. Molina had made her and Julie matching dahlia costumes for Halloween. Carrie didn’t particularly like dahlias — she was more of an orchid person — but their florist kept using them to decorate their house. She was used to them by now.

But now, the bright, cheerful flowers reminded Carrie of a house that was so different from this one. A house that had been warm, and chaotic, but always so full of love and laughter and music and _heart_. She grabbed the keys to her car and headed out, knowing where she wanted to be. 

Half-way through the drive the heavens opened, and even the short run from her car up to the door was enough to make her drenched. _Fuck today_ , she thought as she swiped her wet hair out of her eyes and pressed the doorbell.

She knew the name of the boy who opened the door, a frown on his face when he realised who she was. _Luke Patterson_ , she thought. _My father stole everything from you._

“Can I come in?” she asked. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spanish translation:  
> “You’re a Miranda,” Abuela said. “Of course you’re a witch. I told your mother you would be, but she didn’t believe me. _‘No, mamá,_ ’ she said. _‘My Julie isn't a witch, she doesn't have magic. She's just a normal little girl!_ ’ With your voice? Please. Even as a toddler, it was clear you were going to have power, but your mother refused to see it. She was so determined to be a gringa that she turned away from our traditions.”


	7. Chapter 7

Carrie shuffled down the stairs, her hair mostly dry and the clothes she’d borrowed from Julie warm and soft around her.

Mr. Molina had saved some food for her, and Carrie nearly cried. She hadn’t been here for years, and she’d been awful to his daughter for just as long.

And yet, he still remembered that she preferred lemon rather than salsa on her tacos. She wasn’t hungry though, and just picked at the food in the face of Luke’s scowl.

“He admitted it,” Carrie said at last, giving up and pushing the plate away, the silence too awkward. “The bargain was the soul of his first-born in exchange for being the most famous member of _Sunset Curve_. Apparently he didn’t know that Caleb would kill you, but,” she shrugged. “I don’t really know if I trust the guy who has lied to me my entire life.”

Mr. Molina looked confused, but Abuela Miranda nodded. “A deal, yes. That explains his aura.”

Carrie couldn’t help but grin. Abuela Miranda had been at nearly every Molina family gathering that Carrie and her dad had been to when she was growing up, and Abuela Miranda had always _glared_ at her dad the entire time. She’d always been super nice to Carrie, so Carrie hadn’t minded her, and it had been pretty funny to see the tiny old woman glaring a rock star into submission over the Thanksgiving turkey. She’d missed it.

She’d missed Julie and her family more than she’d wanted to admit. “Wait, aura?” Carrie asked. “You can see auras?” She’d always thought people claiming to see auras were nothing more than frauds and ~~her Dad’s~~ ~~Trevor’s~~ Robert’s meditation had always seemed more performative than real, but then again, that was before she found out that ghosts were real. And that they could kill people in exchange for souls. So maybe it wasn’t all bullshit.

“Apparently, I come from a long line of witches,” Julie said from where she was leaning up against Luke, and Carrie opened her mouth and shut it again really fast. “You were going to say something nasty, weren’t you?” Julie said, and Carrie screwed her face up and nodded.

“You and Kayla, dude,” the blonde one, Alex, said. “You both need to learn to be nicer if you’re going to hang out with us.”

“What makes you think I’m going to hang out with you, after what you sang about me? And after what Flynn rapped about me? Or that I want anything to do with Kayla?” Carried asked, bristling, but Julie just looked at her.

“You’re here, aren’t you? I’ll ask Flynn to apologise, but I’m not going to stop being her friend. And given the way Kayla and Reggie look at each other, she’s probably going to be around a lot more, so you’re just going to have to deal.”

“She said I have a cute butt!” said the ghost in a leather jacket, and Alex shushed him.

“What Kayla did was wrong,” Julie said. “She shouldn’t have spied on you for Caleb, but he’s using her just as much as he’s using you. You’re just as tangled up in this as I am. Carrie, we grew up together. I _know_ you. I know that you’re angry at Flynn and Kayla — but I know you’re angrier with your dad and Caleb. There’s no way in hell you’re happy that some old dead asshole owns your soul.”

“Language,” Mr. Molina said quietly, but Julie didn’t stop.

“A scrap between teen girls? Please, Carrie, that’s nothing,” Julie said. “We’ve seen that film before. Someone does drugs in a church bathroom, someone gets hit by a bus, whatever. Your feelings are hurt and that’s valid, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry. Caleb owns your soul, he controls a bunch of ghosts, and he hurt my boys. No one hurts my friends and gets away with it.”

Carrie knew that. Julie Molina could be downright _mean_ when someone hurt her friends, as they’d all learned that time in middle school when Barry Mailer had cut Flynn’s hair on a dare and Julie had launched a revenge plan that was straight _nasty_. It had taken some fast talking on Carrie’s behalf to get them out of that one, and to this day, she was fairly sure it was only because Ms. Chu didn’t like Barry that they hadn’t gotten into more trouble.

She knew her feet had guided her to the right place. “You want to take him down, don’t you?” Carrie asked.

“I do,” Julie said. “Want to help?”

Carrie looked at her old friend for a long time, thinking. She thought about how alone she felt, in an empty mansion built with stolen money. She thought about how everything she’d been so proud of, that she’d worked so hard for, had been because ~~her Dad~~ Robert had made a deal with a ghost who’d apparently been greasing the wheels of her life to ensure she created enough music for him to feed off.

And she thought about Julie, about how Abuela Miranda had always been able to seemingly create food out of thin air, about how there wasn’t a plant Mrs. Molina hadn’t been able to coax into growing, and about how Julie’s singing made the hair on the back of Carrie’s neck stand up, how it made you feel like you could fly just listening to it. How Julie could make ghosts visible and God only knew what else, and how they hovered around her like Julie’s own personal shield.

But most of all, she thought about her childhood, to the warmth and comfort she’d always found in the Molina household; to the laughter and the food and the dress ups and the holidays and the movie marathons and the _happiness_ , and she thought about how lonely and awful the past few years had been.

 _My father raised me as a lie_ , Carrie thought. _And Julie’s always been a terrible liar_.

Carrie nodded. “I’m in. Let’s take that bastard down.”

Carrie was fairly sure she heard Alex mutter something about teenage girls being terrifying, but it was kinda lost when Mr. Molina stood and ordered them off to bed as it was a school night.

“You’ll have to sleep in Julie’s room, Carrie,” said Mr. Molina, and the smile Julie sent her was a pale remembrance of the smiles Julie had sent her as a child.

“Like when we were kids,” Julie said, and Carrie wasn’t fool enough to turn down that olive branch.

“It sounds great,” she said. “It’s been a while since we’ve done a terrible Buzzfeed quiz. Think they’ve gotten any better?”

“I don’t know, I don’t think anything will ever top that one where we picked a boy band and that revealed our shoe size and favourite pizza toppings.”

“There was that one about what position you should use based on your star sign and favourite fruit,” Carrie reminded her, and Julie snickered. That had been a _memorably bad_ quiz.

“Yay! Sleepover!” Reggie cheered, heading towards the stairs, and Mr. Molina put a stop to that real quick.

“Reggie! What’s the rule?”

“No boys in Julie’s room after 9pm,” Reggie said slowly, and Carrie was beyond amused to see Luke pout at the reminder. “And the door is to remain open whenever we’re in there.”

“Am I allowed in Julie’s room after 9pm?” Alex asked, raising his hand. “After all, I’m gay, so…”

“ _No_ , Alex. The girls need to sleep, and you don’t. You can stay down here and watch TV if you want, just keep the volume down, but you’re not allowed up those stairs. Good night, boys. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“But what if we have a really good idea about how we can defeat Caleb?” Luke asked, and Carrie’s eyebrows shot up. _That boy is_ pushing _it_ , she thought.

“Then you write it down, and we go over it in the morning. Good night,” he said firmly, herding Carrie and Julie towards the stairs, and Carrie definitely did not snicker at the downcast look on Luke’s face.

She just had something in her throat.

* * *

“Hey Julie?” Carrie asked, starting up at the ceiling. “I’m sorry about your mom. And I’m sorry for stealing her song, even though I really didn’t know it wasn’t from Nick.”

“Thanks, Carrie,” Julie said softly. “Thanks.”

“I guess I have a lot of apologies to make,” Carrie said.

“So do I. And Flynn. And Kayla. We’ve all hurt each other. All the apologies won’t fix everything,” Julie said. “Just because you’re sorry for how you acted doesn’t mean it’s all okay now.”

“Yeah, I know,” Carrie said. “My d- _Robert_ apologised, but I haven’t forgiven him. I don’t know if I can ever forgive him for what he did.”

“What are you going to do?” Julie asked. “About him. And about Kayla?”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do about Kayla,” Carried admitted. “She’s been by my side since we started high school, and I thought she was my friend. I trusted her, and to find out it was all a lie…”

“She seemed pretty upset not to be your friend anymore,” Julie said. “I think by this point she genuinely likes you, regardless of how she came to meet you in the first place.”

“Well, who wouldn’t like me?” asked Carrie, striving for her usual confident tone. “I’m amazing.”

“Yeah, you are,” said Julie earnestly, which Carrie was not prepared for. “You’re smart, and funny, and pretty, and you can sing and dance really well, and you’re strong as hell. You’ve reacted to learning about ghosts way more calmly than I did, and I just had to deal with them appearing in my garage and being annoying and kinda cute. You had to deal with the realisation that your dad made a deal with one of them and bargained your soul to a ghost for fame.”

“Yes, thank you for reminding me that Robert is a piece of shit, I hadn’t thought of that for at least 30 seconds,” Carrie said. “I’ll probably file for emancipation,” she continued, trying to keep the tears out of her voice and pretty sure she was failing. “My trust fund has enough for me to live on for a while, until I finish college anyway.”

“Maybe my dad would adopt you? Or be your guardian or something?”

“Yeah, from what I saw this evening your dad has already adopted two new ghost sons and like, a ghost son-in-law, so he might have his hands a bit full.”

“Son-in-law? What? No,” Julie denied, and Carrie rolled her eyes.

“Julie, that boy looks at you as if you hung the moon and the stars and invented _music_ , and you gravitate toward him like he’s the center of the universe. It’s like, sickening and adorable in equal measure.”

“Luke and I are just friends,” Julie insisted. “And besides, he’s a ghost. He’s dead.”

“You realise I didn’t actually say his name, right?”

Julie started to stutter out a denial, and Carrie took pity on her. “If Nick had ever looked at me even remotely like Luke looks at you, we’d never have broken up.”

“I’m sorry about Nick,” Julie said.

“Thanks,” Carrie sighed. “We should have broken up a long time ago, really. It was just...expected of us to be together, really. It was easier to keep up the facade if I had the cutest boy in our grade on my arm. And I’m sorry about Luke being a ghost and all. That actually really sucks — you guys are a cute couple.”

“He is pretty cute air,” Julie agreed, and she dropped her hand over the side of the bed towards where Carrie was on the airbed. “Annoying, talented, distractingly cute air.”

Carrie reached up, linking their pinkie fingers the way they’d done when they were kids. “Hey.”

“Hey. It’s going to be okay.”

“Thanks, Jules,” Carrie said quietly.

* * *

“We need a plan,” said Julie, looking at the collection of ghosts and lifers gathered in her studio. She twisted her hands, and scrunched her nose. “Damn it, I need something to write with,” she said.

Luke offered her his journal but it was too small — she wanted something they could all see.

“Hang on,” said Kayla, poofing out and then returning towing a portable whiteboard.

“Where did you get that?” Julie asked, seeing the _Bobcats_ sticker on it.

“Coach Gilman’s office,” Kayla said. “He pissed me off the other day, so whatever.”

“Should we be concerned about your sticky fingers?” Alex said, and Kayla shrugged.

“Why? I’m dead. It’s not like they can put me in jail, or like, ruin my chances of getting into a good college.”

Alex still looked perturbed, but they only had a limited amount of time before dinner, and Julie wasn’t going to waste it. “Hey, Flynn, can you see this?” she asked, and on her laptop screen Flynn gave her a thumb’s up, still grounded and sneaking onto her dad’s computer while her parents were at work.

“Okay,” said Julie, uncapping a marker and writing ‘ _How to Get Free of Caleb’_ at the top of the whiteboard in big letters. “Hit me,” she said, and there was silence in the room.

She looked at her friends. “Really? No one has any ideas?”

“We didn’t know ghosts were real until we woke up as one,” shrugged Luke. “I can write you a killer song, but this is way out of my league.”

“I know ghost magic, but not like, how to remove a ghost,” said Kayla. “I mostly know how to interact with the lifer world.”

“Same,” said Willie with a shrug.

“Salt doesn’t work,” said Carlos. “I tried that before, remember? Pure iron apparently repels them but doesn’t get rid of them. We could try to salt and burn his bones? That might work.”

“We’re not digging up a grave!” said Julie. “Carlos, how do you even know this stuff?”

“The internet,” her brother said with a shrug. “What do you want to do, try and help him resolve his issues so he can cross over? That’s such a girly response. Ow!” he said as Carrie pinched him.

“Watch it, toadstool,” she said. “Girls are cool.” She tapped her fingers on her arm for a bit. “It might work though. What do you guys know about Caleb? Do you think we could even find his bones?”

“He was a magician,” Reggie said. “He died in 1924, performing one of his tricks. He drowned in a tank of electric eels and he’s buried in Forest Lawn Glendale cemetery.”

Everyone looked at him, and Reggie shrugged. “What? I read. And magic tricks are cool.”

“No, they very much are not,” said Carrie, and when Julie frowned at her for making Reggie look sad, she continued hurriedly. “You mentioned a club, right? So it’s just for ghosts?”

“No, actually,” said Willie. “Like, there’s a lot of ghosts, but most of the guests are lifers. They all pay a lot to get a sneak peek at the afterlife. To, y’know, see what happens when you die. They all become part of the club when they die too.”

Julie and Carrie gaped at each other. “Wait, what?” Julie said. “I thought you said the club was mostly ghosts!”

Kayla shook her head. “The club members are all lifers. The ghosts are the...entertainment.”

“So what you’re saying,” said Carrie slowly, “is that there’s a bunch of rich people around LA who _know_ ghosts are real. Who _know_ what happens when you die, and they just, what...attend parties?”

“Not just LA,” said Willie. “All over the world. Caleb really likes Paris.”

“Holy crap,” said Flynn over the laptop speakers. “That’s...bleak. Fucking rich people. This is why we should eat the rich!”

“You can build a guillotine later, Flynn. Focus.”

“...these lifers, they pay money, right?” said Carrie, a calculating look on her face. “They probably have contracts and stuff, yeah?”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Willie.

“If their membership lapses, Caleb gets really...vengeful,” said Kayla. “I’ve seen it happen a few times. Everyone who’s a member enters a contract with Caleb, sometimes with his stamp involved, and I don’t know anyone who’s ever broken a contract. Apart from you guys, which is like, why I’m here.”

“So they are breakable,” Carrie said. “The contracts. I wonder…”

“Carrie?” Julie asked. “Mind filling the rest of us in on what you’re thinking?”

“If it’s one thing I’ve learned through going to boring industry parties with Robert, it’s that any contract can be broken if you work out the right leverage. And pretty much anyone can be bought.”

Carrie smiled, and it wasn’t a nice smile.

“The bastard bought me without my knowledge. So I’m going to turn the tables and buy him, then burn his fucking Club to the ground with him in it.”

* * *

Flynn had finally been ungrounded and was back in the studio, and Reggie was happy about that.

Because when Flynn was in the studio Julie looked extra happy, and Reggie liked it when Julie looked extra happy. Reggie didn’t like it when people were sad.

They’d just had a great practice, and even Luke was happy with all of their songs, and he and Alex were responding to comments on the Instagram Flynn had set the band up with, and Reggie was absentmindedly plucking away at his bass.

It wasn’t even plugged into the amp, so he wasn’t bothering anyone, he just liked the feeling of the strings under his fingers.

It made him happy.

His phone buzzed beside him, and when he saw the little picture of Kayla’s face on the screen he couldn’t stop himself from smiling extra big. She’d been texting him constantly since they’d swapped numbers, which was much less stressful than phone calls especially since phones had spellcheck now, and he was trying to gather up the courage to ask her on a date.

It wasn’t like him to be nervous. He’d always been confident in asking girls out — they’d either say yes, and they’d have a good time, or they’d say no, and he’d ask someone else out — and he’d been pretty bold with Braeden, but there was something different about Kayla.

Some instinct that told Reggie that Kayla was different. That she was special. That if he did this right, he’d have someone to spend the rest of his life — unlife? — with.

Reggie tried to listen to his instincts. They’d encouraged him to pick up a bass he’d found in an old shop, and they’d encouraged him to sit at the lunch table with Luke and Alex when he’d first moved to LA. And he hoped they were right about Kayla, and what she could be to him.

Because Alex had Willie, and Luke had Julie, and Reggie was worried they’d leave him alone, but if he had Kayla then he wouldn’t be alone. Not really.

 _You’re being silly_ , a part of his brain said. _You know Alex and Luke will always be there for you. You’re family_. They always had been, Luke even writing Reggie his own jam to sing to celebrate Reggie coming back to LA after a summer spent with his grandparents in Texas.

Reggie couldn't stop from smiling as he tapped on her photo and the 'Kayla ❤' chat popped open.

Kayla ❤: "It’s official: group projects are the worst. THE WORST. This stupid assignment is going to kill me! "  
Kayla ❤: "Either this assignment is going to kill me, or I’m going to kill one of these morons. "  
Kayla ❤: "Brian is trying to argue that the earth is flat. I’m going to kill him. "  
Kayla ❤: "No jury in the world would convict me. He had it coming. "

Reggie grinned, and carefully typed out: "No murder. I’ll be sad if you go to jail. "

Kayla ❤: "Fine. I’ll not kill him, just for you. I could kill him though. I have awesome ghostly powers. "  
Kayla ❤: "(ง'̀-'́)ง "

Kayla ❤: "(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ "

  


_I know these!_ Reggie thought, carefully navigating through his phone to where he’d saved these little drawing things.

He copied the one he wanted and returned to the 'Kayla ❤' chat.

_Phones today are so cool,_ he thought as he carefully sent "( ✿◠‿◠ ) "

Kayla ❤: "If you hear sirens, it was *not* me. "  
Kayla ❤: "*Kill Bill sirens* "

  


“Hey, Julie, what’re ‘Kill Bill sirens’?” he asked. “Kayla just texted me about them.”

Julie obligingly played the clip, and yeah, he got it now.

“Why?” Julie asked.

“Kayla’s stuck doing a group project, and apparently some guy called Brian is going to get murdered over it.”

“Brian Tideswell? Oh man, that guy’s an asshole,” Flynn said.

“Tell her we wish her luck,” said Julie.

“Nah, tell her we’ll help hide the body,” said Flynn. “Did you know it only takes about eight minutes for an adult male pig to eat an entire human body?”

They all looked at her, and Flynn shrugged. “I was grounded for two weeks. My mom listens to a lot of true crime podcasts.”

Reggie looked back at his phone when it buzzed and laughed. “Kayla says thanks for the offer, but she has cool ghost powers she can totally use on this butthead. Hey Julie, have you tried out any of your magic yet?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I don’t know where to start.”

“ _Expecto Patronum_?” Flynn suggested, and a quick look at the boys showed Reggie that he wasn’t the only one not to get that reference.

“There’s no Dementors here, so no,” said Julie. “And I don’t have a wand.”

_Wands are real? Cool!_

“You might not need one,” said Luke. “Your Abuela said it was all about intent. So maybe you just really need to mean it? Here,” he said, throwing her the pencil that was sticking out of his journal. “See if you can make it float?”

Julie didn’t look confident, but she put the pencil down on the table and gestured at it. “ _Wingardium Leviosa_?” she said, her voice unsure, and the pencil…

The pencil did nothing.

“Maybe sing it?” Alex suggested. “I’m pretty sure it was your singing that pulled us out of Caleb’s club.”

Julie looked even more unsure, but Reggie gave her his most encouraging smile and it seemed to help. She took a deep breath, and sang, “ _Wingardium Leviosa_!”

And this time the pencil floated up into the air and hovered there as they all gaped at it, then fell back to the table.

“Holy shit,” Alex breathed, and Reggie nodded.

“You just floated a pencil!” Flynn said, grabbing Julie in a hug. “I can’t believe it!”

Luke threw himself onto their cuddle, dragging Alex along with him, and Reggie abandoned his bass to join the pile on the couch.

“Get off! I can’t breathe!” complained Flynn, but the cuddle continued until Julie’s complaints reached their ears too.

And then Luke immediately pulled back, shoving Reggie and Alex to the floor, and Flynn snorted at them. “I see how it is,” she said. “Anyway, Jules, see if you can do it again. Without the TERF-y mumbo-jumbo this time,” and Reggie still didn’t know what she was talking about, but he picked himself up off the floor anway.

“You’ve got this, Jules!” he encouraged, giving Alex a hand up.

Julie bit her lip, then nodded. She smiled at Luke, and began to sing.

 _Running from the past_  
_Tripping on the now_

The pencil started to float again, and this time it stayed hovering in the air.

_What is lost can be found, it's obvious_

Julie gestured with her hand, and the pencil turned and floated over in front of Luke.

 _And like a rubber ball_  
_We come bouncing back_  
_We all got a second act, inside of us_

Slowly, the pencil floated all the way around Luke’s head, the concentration clear in Julie’s voice. As she launched into the chorus, Reggie thought she looked more confident, and the pencil was moving smoother through the air.

_I believe  
I believe that we're just one dream  
Away from who we're meant to be  
That we're standing on the edge of  
Something big, something crazy  
Our best days are yet unknown  
That this moment is ours to own  
'Cause we're standing on the edge of great_

“On the edge of great,” Reggie sang, and the pencil floated over to him as Julie responded with _Great_.

“On the edge of great,” repeated Alex, and the pencil bopped him on the nose as Julie sang her next _Great_.

“On the edge of great,” sang Luke, a smile on his face and hearts in his eyes as he looked at Julie and pulled her to her feet. “Go on, keep going,” he said, and Julie nodded, the pencil never wavering.

 _We all make mistakes_  
_But they're just stepping stones_  
_To take us where we wanna go_  
_It's never straight, no_  
_Sometimes we gotta lean_  
_Lean on someone else_  
_To get a little help_  
_Until we find our way_

The pencil swirled and moved around the studio as Julie sang, soon joined by one of Alex’s drumsticks, Reggie’s necklace, and one of Flynn’s earrings. It was too tempting, and soon they were all on their feet, swept up in excitement and joining in with the rest of the song as Julie directed their belongings in a dance around them, her angelic voice lifting their hearts as much as it lifted their stuff.

It was a moment Reggie knew he would never forget.

* * *

_That’s it_ , Luke thought. _That’s it. I’m done for. How can I...no one will ever outshine Julie Molina_ , he thought, watching as the girl who made his heart beat again sung their things around the room, her voice literally enchanting.

 _There’s no one else I want to be with_ , he thought. _And even if we don’t last, even if she grows up and moves away and forgets me...I need to know._

_I need to know how great we could be together._

He’d waited long enough, and you never knew when your poisoned hotdog would strike.

_It’s now or never._

* * *

“Hey, Julie?” Luke asked. It was time for dinner, and Flynn paused as she packed up her stuff. Luke sounded uncertain, and that was _very_ not like Luke.

Flynn’s crush radar switched into high gear.

“Can I ask you something?” Luke said, and Julie smiled at him.

“Sure,” she said, her face tilted up to his with a smile and Flynn just wanted to smush their faces together and yell ‘now kiss!’.

But she restrained herself. Somehow.

Luke’s eyes flickered towards Flynn and the other guys, and Flynn knew the look of a desperate boy when she saw one.

“So, Reggie,” she said loudly, grabbing her bag off the couch and snagging Reggie’s attention, because she was a good bro like that. “Tell me about that cooking show you’ve started to watch with Ray and Carlos. Something about BBQ?”

She led the bassist out of the studio, trusting that Alex, being the boy who normally had the communal brain cell out of the band, would know what she was doing.

“It’s called _The American Barbeque Showdown_ and man, do I want to try those ribs!” Reggie said enthusiastically as Flynn led him out the door.

He chattered on about dry rubs and dirty smoke as Flynn walked them across the yard, and when she judged they were far enough away she shushed him.

“Wha?” he asked, but when she put her finger over her lips and crept back to the garage door he seemed to get it. “Oooh!” he said, the lightbulb visibly going off in his mind — _this boy_ , she thought fondly. _He’s an actual cartoon character_ — and proceeded to do the most unsubtle, outlandish creep across the yard to where Alex was already crouched down beside the door, his ear pressed to the wood.

Flynn peeked through the gap she’d left when she hadn’t quite shut the doors behind her, sorry not sorry, and watched as Luke fidgeted with the pencil Julie had been floating earlier.

“Hey, Jules?” he said, and Flynn’s heart was in her mouth as Luke carefully slid the pencil behind Julie’s ear and took her hands, ducking his head so he could look Julie in the face.

“I just want you to know, you’re amazing,” he said. “You’re like, the best, most rad person I’ve ever known.”

“Aw, Luke,” Julie said. “I’m not that special.”

“No, you are,” Luke said, his voice insistent as he shook their hands slightly. “You’re amazing. You’re literally magic. You brought us out of that dark room and gave us music back and got us free of Caleb and, and....you’retheelectrichammertomyheart,” he blurted out, and it was only from listening to the band rehearse _Now or Never_ dozens of times that Flynn understood what that jumble of sounds meant.

“Will you go on a date with me?” Luke asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [VicesVsVirtues](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VicesVsVirtues/pseuds/VicesVsVirtues) for the fun fact about the pig!
> 
> Also, isn't the art by cyquor great? Please go [HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28156803) and tell her!


	8. Chapter 8

Flynn stepped back, narrowed her eyes at Julie, and nodded. “Perfect,” she said, taking in the outfit and make up she’d dressed Julie in. _My god, am I good_ , she thought.

“It’s missing one thing,” Carrie said, sliding off the bed and walking towards them.

“Excuse you? This outfit is perfect, this outfit is divine, this outfit is going to make that ghost boy choke on his air and —” Flynn shut up when Carrie held up the little dahlia pin that Julie had worn for the open mic night where she’d sung _Finally Free_. 

Flynn forced herself to smile at Carrie as the blonde carefully pinned it to Julie’s dress. “Yeah, you’re right; that was missing. Thanks, Carrie.”

Carrie smirked, then appeared to catch herself. The smug expression faded into something more natural looking. “You’re welcome. You ready, Julie?”

“No?” their friend squeaked. “Oh god, I can’t do this. What if this is a mistake? What if he doesn’t like me?”

“If I wasn’t worried about messing up your make up, I’d slap you right now,” Flynn said. _Although I’m tempted to slap you anyway, girl_. “This is not a mistake. Luke is head over heels for you,” she tried to say patiently. But she’d said it so many times now it was hard not to sound annoyed at having to repeat herself. Again.

“It’s just dinner and a movie, Julie,” Carrie said soothingly. “You can do this. And even if he was the worst company in the world, which even I will admit he’s not,” _Yeah, a week really isn’t long enough for those two to forgive each other_ , Flynn thought, “ _Wayne’s World_ is a pretty funny movie even if it’s totally ancient. And you picked a good restaurant. You’ve got a good movie, good food, and good company. It’s going to be fine.”

“But what if it’s not fine?” Julie asked, and Carrie’s face started to slip back into it’s old bitchy expression.

“Then you’ll have a great story about that time you went out on a date with a ghost and it was a disaster, and everyone will be entertained when you tell it at parties, even though they’ll think you’re insane for believing in ghosts,” Carrie snapped. “Now get out that door. Your patheticness is boring me.”

_Yeah, you say that, but you still gave up your Saturday evening to come and help Julie get ready for her date_ , Flynn thought. _You’re not as uncaring as you pretend to be._

Anyone watching the pained looks Carrie sent Kayla whenever her former friend’s back was turned in the hallways could tell you that, even if the two girls scrupulously stayed away from each other at all times.

“I wonder if Alex is having these problems with Luke?” Flynn whispered to Carrie as they followed Julie out the door. _Maybe this time the olive branch will work._

“Probably worse,” said Carrie with a grin. _Olive branch success!_ “That boy is a disaster.”

* * *

“No, you can’t wear your Rush shirt,” Alex said, his voice completely out of patience and Kayla tried not to snicker.

Alex had already said that several times in the last hour.

“You _died_ in that shirt, Luke. For the last time, you _cannot_ wear it on your date with Julie.” 

“But this is the shirt I was wearing when I _met_ Julie,” Luke protested. “And when I heard her sing for the first time! This shirt reminds me of Julie!”

_Fairly sure everything from sunshine to the colour mustard to the intangible sense of time reminds you of Julie at this point_ , Kayla thought. Luke was so far gone on the tiny lifer that it was actually hilarious.

Then again, as Kayla looked at her own ghost boy sitting beside her on the studio couch, she kinda understood where Luke was coming from. _Love is pretty great. Not that I love him. It’s too soon. I don’t, we don’t….it’s too soon._

_We’re ghosts. We have the time_.

“Okay, what? No, that’s, no,” said Alex. “Nope. Shirt, off.”

Luke pouted, but in the face of Alex’s glare he dutifully pulled his shirt off, and Kayla couldn’t help but look.

What? She still thought Reggie was cuter, but Luke had nice arms and _very_ defined abs. Still, feeling slightly guilty about eyeing up Luke, she snuggled closer to Reggie, and _felt_ his smile grow as she did so.

“You can have my best flannel,” Reggie said loyally. “It’s always helped me get lucky on dates.”

Luke spluttered as Alex started to smack his head against the wall to a low chant of ‘not helping, not helping’. 

“Okay, _I’m_ stopping that one,” Kayla said. “Julie is 16 and still alive and just...nope. Besides, don’t _you_ want to have your best flannel tonight?” she asked Reggie with a wink, and was delighted to see his ears go red. _Aw yeah, I’ve still got it_ , she thought. “Here,” she said, throwing a shopping bag at Luke. “I got you a new polo for tonight. A nice one.”

Luke pulled the shirt out with a frown, and Alex reached out to inspect it. “This _is_ a nice polo,” the blonde said. “Good work, Kayla.”

She bowed, and tried not to giggle as Luke’s frown morphed into a pout. “But it has sleeves?”

“I know you’re allergic to wearing sleeves for anything but the most emotionally-charged times of sadness,” Alex snarked, “but they are small sleeves, they are appropriate sleeves, and you’re not going to get kicked out of the restaurant for flashing your disgusting armpits at everyone when you start talking about music and wave your arms around like a maniac. No, do _not_ try to deny it, that is _literally_ what happened that one time we went on a date before I realised we’re better as friends who don’t date, no do not _hug_ me, I am _mad_ at you!”

Luke didn’t listen and just hugged Alex, Alex rolling his eyes before gently patting Luke on the back.

“Take it from someone who has dated you,” Alex said. “I know you’re nervous, but you don’t have to be. You’re going to be fine. You’re a fun date just being yourself. Julie feels the same way about you as you feel about her, it took all week but you picked a good movie, Kayla assures me it’s a good restaurant, and even if the movie and the food are a disaster, you’re spending time with Julie. So as long as you don’t do your bouncy walk all night — it makes you look like a chicken, it’s not attractive — and as long as you don’t, I don’t know, walk into a fountain or something, tonight will be a success.”

Luke still looked nervous, but he seemed calmer after Alex’s pep yell. _It’s like a pep talk, but louder,_ Kayla thought.

“And if you hurt her, we’ll make your afterlife hell,” Alex said with a grin. 

Reggie and Kayla both cheered at that, making Luke blush, but he pulled on the polo shirt, grimacing as he lifted his arms and the material tightened around his shoulders, but Alex smacked Luke’s arms back down and fixed his hair.

“Here,” said Reggie, shrugging out of his leather jacket. “In case it gets cold, you can, y’know, offer it to Julie.”

“Are you sure?” Luke said, reaching out to take it. “What if Kayla gets cold?”

_These boys_ , Kayla thought. _They’re all so fucking nice. It’s different. It’s good._

“Good thing I’ll have my lucky flannel with me,” Reggie said with a wink, and this time Kayla knew _she_ was blushing.

“You’ve got this,” Alex said, holding Luke by the shoulders. “You’ve absolutely got this, you’re going to have a great time, okay?”

Luke gulped, and Reggie launched himself off the couch and crashed into Luke, knocking him into Alex. “Group hug!” he cried, and the three boys bounced around like the morons Kayla knew they were, for all they tried to look like a cool rock band normally.

She pulled her phone out and recorded a short video of their ridiculousness, and sent it as a snap to Flynn. She’d probably post it to the band instagram later that night.

Luke drew back from the hug and looked at his friends. “Thanks, guys,” he said, and they grinned at him.

“Anytime, dork,” Alex said.

Reggie gave him a thumbs up. “Have fun!”

Luke shrugged Reggie’s jacket on and poofed out of the studio — he’d promised to pick up Julie at the front door, just like a real boy.

Kayla, Alex and Reggie looked at each other.

“Is that it?” Reggie asked.

“Of course not,” Kayla said, grabbing Reggie and Alex’s hands. “Come on, make sure you stay invisible.”

Together, they poofed to the Molinas’ front porch, the sounds of the LA early evening hiding the small pop they made, and they watched Luke determinedly march up the stairs and ring the doorbell.

And then seemingly panic, and Kayla nearly groaned. _Shit, we forgot to get flowers for him to give her_.

To then make Luke’s night worse, Mr. Molina opened the door, not Julie. “So, Luke,” he said, trying hard to look stern but clearly enjoying himself. “You’re here to take Julie out.”

“Yes, sir,” said Luke, his hands behind his back as he tried to stand up straight and look honest, which nearly had Kayla in hysterics. She could feel Alex shaking beside her with silent laughter, and it was all she could do to remain quiet.

“She’s very precious to me,” Mr. Molina said, his arms crossed over his chest as he loomed over Luke. “You will treat her well, you will respect her, and you will have her home by 10pm.”

“Yes, sir,” Luke gulped, and Kayla almost felt bad for him, except she knew that Julie was just as precious to Luke. And that the ghost would rather cut off his own arm or like, set his guitar on fire than ever hurt Julie.

“Dad!” an exasperated Julie appeared behind her dad and tried to tug him out of the way. Mr. Molina pointed at his eyes and then at Luke, then stepped aside. “I am _so_ sorry about him,” Julie apologised to Luke as her dad retreated to stand by the stairs. “He promised me he wouldn’t say anything.”

“Um, no, it’s cool,” Luke said. “You look very...wow.”

Julie did indeed look very wow. Also very pretty, the soft purple dress making her amber skin glow and the gold chain woven through her hair making her look like a princess. Kayla was glad she’d gotten Luke a plain white polo, because it made Julie shine all the more — and played up Luke’s own tan.

“You look pretty wow yourself,” Julie said with a smile, and Kayla _could not_ with these two, they were too adorable. “Let’s go before my dad gets all weird again,” she whispered, and Luke held out his hand with a grin.

“I’d go anywhere with you,” he said, and Kayla would have smacked the boy, that was way too forward for a first date, but because he was Luke and she was Julie, she just beamed at him and took his hand, and they walked down the path into the sunset together.

She let her hold on her invisibility fade as beside her, Alex and Reggie both snuffled.

“Our little Luke, all grown up,” Alex mumbled.

“So proud of him,” agreed Reggie, and Kayla snorted.

“You’re both dorks. Alex, didn’t you have plans with Willie tonight?” The blonde grinned at them and disappeared. “And as for you and your lucky flannel, Mr. Peters,” Kayla said as she turned to face Reggie and grab his other hand. “I have plans for you both.”

“Fun plans?” Reggie asked, and _this boy_.

“Pretty fun,” she said, tugging him along with her as she poofed away. They landed in a cobblestone street, the buildings lining the street advertising wands, cauldrons and owls. At the end of the street a dragon perched on top of a building, its mouth open in a roar. “Welcome to _Wizarding World Hollywood_ ,” she said, laughing as Reggie’s eyes grew as big as saucers.

He’d spent the whole week since Julie had done her first spell watching all of the Harry Potter movies — he’d wanted to know what _Wingardium Leviosa_ and _Expecto Patronum_ had meant, and Kayla’d pointed him to the movies in answer — and he’d spent most of the week sending her excited texts and memes and snaps about _Harry Potter_. It’d been adorable.

_Such a dork_ , she thought fondly as he started to drag her through Hogsmeade, gasping with excitement as a kid waved their interactive wand at a large box in the window of Honeydukes while yelling _Revelio!_. The box opened slowly, revealing a giant Chocolate Frog, and both the kid and Reggie jumped up and down with excitement.

“How did he do that?” Reggie asked, and Kayla smiled.

She pulled the interactive wand she’d shoplifted earlier in the week when she’d gotten the idea for this date, and offered it to Reggie. “Magic.”

* * *

“We are the saddest people in LA tonight,” Carrie announced from where she was lying on one of the couches in the Molinas’ lounge. 

“Why?” asked Flynn, looking up from where she was doodling in a notebook.

“Because all our friends are out on dates and we’re chilling in someone else’s house with her dad and brother, watching Alton Brown torture people by tying them into one apron and taking away their ingredients,” Carrie said. “It’s just sad.”

“Okay, well, rude, Mr. Molina and Carlos are literally getting food for us right now,” said Flynn. “And you don’t have to be here. You have your own house. Your own friends.”

Carrie scrunched her nose up. _Except it doesn’t feel like my house, and I don’t know if they’re still my friends_. She didn’t want to admit how lonely she felt since she’d stopped talking to Kayla, and even the not-ghost members of _Dirty Candy_ hadn’t spoken to her all week, but given the sympathetic looks Julie would send her Carrie thought she was probably not hiding her feelings as well as she’d like.

Even Flynn had given her a sad look or two, and had handed over her fruit cup at lunch the other day, and that was almost too much. Flynn wasn’t meant to care.

“So do you,” she retorted, and Flynn rolled her eyes. 

“Eh, I don’t mind hanging out here,” Flynn said. “My parents aren’t doing so well. Together. It’s...awkward. Here’s nicer.”

“Still, this is an incredibly sad Saturday night for two smoking hot babes,” Carrie said in her best impression of Luke, trying to lighten the mood. “We should be on totally rad dates.” 

Apparently it worked, because Flynn grinned. “You want a totally rad date?” she asked. “I’ll give you a totally rad date.”

Before Carrie could ask what the fuck was happening, Flynn had bounced into the kitchen. “Hey Mr. Molina, sorry, but Carrie and I aren’t going to stay for spaghetti. Also, do you still have that old chest of dress ups in the attic? And that old polaroid camera we used to play with?”

Carrie heard Mr. Molina say yes to both things, and Flynn jogged up the stairs and returned a few minutes later.

By that time Mr. Molina and Carlos had both brought their plates of spaghetti over to the couch, and watched Flynn’s arrival with interest. Flynn had the polaroid camera slung over her shoulder and two pairs of old shoes in her hands — a scruffy pair of men’s boots, and a pair of pretty red heels.

“The camera should still have film,” Mr. Molina said, taking it from Flynn to check. He snapped a quick picture of Carlos, who threw a pose the second he saw the camera pointed at him, and they all watched as the photo slid out the front of the camera and started to develop. “Yep, looks good,” he said as he handed the camera back to Flynn. “What do you want it for?”

“We’re going on a date,” Flynn said, looking at Carrie.

“We’re what?” Carrie spluttered. _That is not what I thought she was going to say_.

“A date,” Flynn repeated. “You said it — we should be on totally rad dates, and since there’s no one else here to take us out, us smoking hot babes are just gonna have to do it for ourselves.”

“Us. Together. On a date?” Carrie asked. _What is happening?_

“Us. Together. On a date,” Flynn confirmed. “I double dog dare you.”

* * *

“I still can’t believe you picked the strawberry sweet and sour pork. That’s such a weird thing to eat!”

“Hey, you stole at least half of it!” Luke protested, and Julie grinned at him. 

“I’m your date, I’m supposed to steal your food,” she said, and Luke’s smile went all soft. _I think I love him_ , Julie realised.

“Yeah, you are,” he said, taking her hand. “Hey Jules, I’m having a great time.”

“Me too,” she said, and then she realised they were standing in the middle of the sidewalk grinning at each other like morons. “I’m not really ready for it to end yet,” she confessed. “We’ve still got time until my curfew — wanna go sit on the beach or something?”

“Party on, Wayne,” Luke said, imitating the stuffy announcer from the movie as he gestured across the road, and Julie giggled.

They wandered along the beach, their fingers tangled together as they talked about _everything_. About dinner, about their friends, about the movie. 

“I need to show you _Bohemian Rhapsody_ , the Queen biopic that came out a few years ago,” Julie said. “There’s a really funny part where Mike Myers plays a producer and yells about how no one is ever going to listen to _Bohemian Rhapsody_ while driving around town with their friends.”

“Show me now?” Luke asked, moving so he was walking backwards in front of her. “Please?”

Julie shook her head. “No, it’s on my phone and...I kinda don’t want to look at my phone when I’m with you. I just want to look at you.” _Argh, too forward?_ Julie wondered.

Luke grinned. “Like what you see?” He asked, dropping her hand to spread his arms wide as he did his cute little bouncy walk backwards.

“It’s not bad,” she said, feeling the blush spread up her cheeks. The tight sleeves of his polo had been very...distracting at the restaurant. Add in the leather jacket that he now wore, and yeah. It wasn’t a bad view at all.

“Then it’s a good thing I like looking at you too,” he said, and once again they were standing still, staring at each other like goofballs, and honestly, Julie couldn’t bring herself to care.

But then she shivered — the breeze coming off the ocean had turned cool — and Luke shrugged off his jacket. “Here,” he said, offering it to her.

Julie shrugged it on with a smile — she was fairly sure it was actually Reggie’s, but it was a sweet gesture. The sleeves flopped down over her hands, and Luke carefully rolled them up for her.

“Ba-da,” he said when he was done, and Julie had to kiss him. Had to kiss him like she had to breathe.

She looked at his face, at his beautiful, open face with his gorgeous eyes and infectious smile and bit her lip. _Please god don’t let this be a mistake_ , she thought, slowly raising herself up on her tiptoes, giving him time to move away.

But he didn’t move away, and she placed a light kiss on his lips, then pulled back, worried that she’d been too forward. That he didn’t actually like her like that.

He looked stunned.

“I’m sorry, was that okay?” she asked. “I should have asked first, it’s 2020 and we’re all about consent, I’m so-”

The rest of her words were cut off as Luke swooped down and kissed her, his hands coming to rest on her hips as his mouth met hers. She linked her hands behind his neck and then in some instinct born from years of watching romance movies and dreaming of the day when she’d get to kiss a cute boy, tilted her head and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. 

It was only much later, when they finally broke apart, that Julie realised her foot had been popped since the moment he’d kissed her back.

* * *

“That was so fun,” Reggie bounced as they exited the park. “So much fun. Can we go again?” he asked, and Kayla grinned and took his hand.

“We can go as many times as you want,” Kayla said. “Not having to pay to enter theme parks is definitely a perk of being a ghost.”

“Oh! We should go to Disneyland!” Reggie exclaimed, and Kayla couldn’t stop herself. She leaned over and kissed him.

“We will,” she said. “I promise.”

The outskirts of Universal Studios wasn’t the most romantic place to hang out however, so with a quick check to make sure no one was watching her, she tugged Reggie along and poofed them back to the city.

If she landed them in Silver Park, not far from her loft, well...she did like this boy. He was sweet.

_I bet if I take him home, he wouldn’t try anything_ , she realised. _He probably actually thinks ‘Netflix and chill’ just means...watching Netflix and chilling_. Reggie thought she was attractive, he’d made that very clear, and they’d exchanged some kisses that had gotten _very_ heated, but...his hands had stayed firmly above her waist. And he hadn’t pushed for anything at all. He held her like she was precious, like she was _breakable_ , and Kayla wasn’t sure what to think. She wasn’t used to that.

She’d even checked with Braedon, knowing they’d hooked up — the HGC crew was pretty damn incestuous, sticking together mostly for safety and for the fact it was easier to be with someone when you both knew that Caleb owned you and could call on you at any second — and he’d shrugged.

_Reggie asked me if he could kiss me, but I took the lead for everything else,_ Breadon had said with a wink. _Honestly, he’s sweet and fun, and it’s been a long time since I’ve come across a soul as pure as that one. Don’t overthink it, Kayla. Reggie’s not one that needs a lot of thought_.

Which Kayla thought was actually pretty mean. Reggie might not be book smart, and he had a bad habit of blurting out whatever came into his head almost immediately, but he was smart in his own way, and curious about the world, and he was loyal and patient, he loved fiercely, and almost without conscious thought Kayla realised they were standing outside her loft.

Reggie looked at her, clearly puzzled as to why they’d stopped walking in the middle in an honestly sketchy part of town, and Kayla took a deep and totally unnecessary breath. “This is my place,” she said, nodding her head at the door. Reggie was holding her hand and she didn’t want to let him go.

“Oh,” he said. “Well, I’m glad you got home safely. Not that anything could really hurt you, but yeah. I’m glad. Can I kiss you goodnight?”

“You could,” Kayla said, her heart in her throat. “Or you could come up and meet Annabelle?”

He beamed at her, and leaned in to place a gentle peck on her lips. “I’ll go anywhere you want,” he said.

_This boy_.

She tugged him through the door and up the steps — she could have poofed them straight into her apartment but she needed the time to confirm with herself what she was doing. Besides, walking the stairs holding the hand of your date seemed like such a _human_ thing to do. And Kayla liked to remind herself that yes, she was still human, even if she was dead.

She opened the door, and let Reggie into her life. He stepped across the threshold slowly, looking around the space. She tried to see it through his eyes — most of the space she’d turned into a dance studio, with full length mirrors and a barre and a rack of costumes cluttering up one wall. She didn’t need to eat, but a cup of tea was comforting on cold days and even dead she still liked ice cream, so there was a small kitchenette underneath the wall where she’d displayed her old pairs of pointe shoes.

Most of the walls were covered in ballet posters of shows she’d seen, shows she’d wished she could have danced in if not for the whole, y’know, being dead thing, and tucked away in a corner was a small framed article: ‘ _Three Dead in Mexican Riot_ ’. The white soldier who had beat her to death after dragging her from a streetcar had never been charged — none of the white soldiers had been charged from the riots, instead the people they’d been beating had faced the charges — but Kayla had haunted the man for years afterwards.

She didn’t kill him though — the IRA had gotten the asshole when he was in London, of all things — which is why she thought she was still on this side of the great beyond. Or maybe that was Caleb’s doing.

“Wow, is that you dancing in those posters?” Reggie asked, and Kayla shook her head.

“No, those are actual professionals,” she said. “I just do it for fun.”

“Can you show me?” He asked. “Please?”

“Are you sure? Most people find ballet boring.”

“I don’t think anything could be boring if you were doing it,” he said earnestly, then looked away with a blush.

Kayla watched as Reggie’s eyes skipped over the screen that very nearly hid her bed, and saw the second he spotted Annabelle.

“You have a puppy!” he gasped, and Annabelle woke up with a snort. She bounded out of her bed and scampered across the floor into Kayla’s arms.

“This is Annabelle,” she said, cuddling her little black Frenchie close. “I got her a few months ago. Some bastard abandoned her in the alleyway.”

Reggie reached out and let Annabelle sniff his hand, then laughed as she licked him. “She’s adorable,” he said. “Can I?”

She handed Annabelle over with a smile, and watched as boy and dog promptly fell in love with each other. Reggie plonked down where he was, right in the doorway, and Kayla laughed at the delighted look on Annabelle’s face when he gave her a belly rub. Kayla wandered over to the mini fridge, pulling out some peach iced tea for them. “You can come and sit on the couch,” she said, and laughed as Reggie scooted over to her, apparently not willing to be parted from Annabelle long enough to stand up and walk.

“Here,” Kayla said, using her ghost powers to summon Annabelle’s basket of toys from across the room. “You guys can keep each other company while I warm up. That is, if you still want to see me dance?”

Reggie grinned up at her. “More than anything.”

_This boy_.

She watched from the corner of her eye as Annabelle and Reggie played fetch and tug-of-war while she did her warm ups, debating with herself what she should dance for Reggie.

Which was a stupid thing to try and debate with herself, as she knew it was going to dance Giselle. She’d nailed Odile’s 32 fouettés years ago, and she made a damn cute Sugar Plum Fairy, but _Giselle_ was her favourite ballet, and her favourite role to dance. She loved every bit of it, from being a happy little bean of a peasant at the start to Giselle literally saving her love’s life through the power of love at the end. It was one of Kayla’s biggest regrets that she’d never been able to join a professional company when she was still alive — and that she couldn’t get enough time away from Caleb to do so now she was dead.

But she could still dance the role for herself, and when she felt she was ready, she changed into the peasant girl’s costume and cued the music up on her phone.

“Ready?” she asked Reggie as she took her opening position.

“Shh, Annabelle, Kayla’s going to dance for us,” Reggie said to her dog, carefully putting the rope on his other side and commanding Annabelle to sit.

Kayla nearly giggled at the sight of Reggie and Annabelle both sitting still, watching her attentively, but then the music started and all Kayla knew to do was _move_ , and if she used the fact she was literally made of air to make her sauts de basques and cabriole devants float more than any living ballerina could, well, why not. She poured her soul into the dance of a happy peasant dancing at the autumn festival out of sheer joy, enjoying the look of awe on Reggie’s face as she leapt through the air, and before she’d even landed the last of the pirouettes and her final pose he was clapping.

“That was so cool!” he cheered as Annabelle barked in excitement. “What was it about? Did it mean something?”

“It’s the peasant pas from _Giselle_ ,” Kayla said as she flopped down beside him, tapping her pointe shoes together. “Solo variation version, anyway. It’s part of a longer bit about peasants being happy at a harvest festival.”

“I’ve never seen a ballet,” Reggie said. “But that sounds cool.”

“We could watch one, if you like?” Kayla said. “And I can explain what’s happening?”

The smile that broke over Reggie’s face could have rivaled the sun. “Please?”

She asked him to take Annabelle out for a quick walk while she changed out of her costume and shoes into comfy clothes, and by the time her man and her dog came back inside she was sitting on her bed, snacks within easy reach, and her laptop open. 

“I figured this would be comfier than the couch,” she said, hoping this wasn’t a mistake. “This is the Bolshoi version,” she said as Reggie kicked his shoes off and came to sit beside her. “They’re the famous Russian ballet company from Moscow. Some of the best dancers in the world have danced there.”

“You should dance there someday,” Reggie said. “I can’t think of any better dancer than you.”

She blushed and hit play, explaining the story as _Giselle_ unfolded. When Reggie cried at the end, she knew he was special.

When she woke up the next morning to find them curled up in a sunbeam in her bed, still fully clothed with Annabelle snoring beside them and her computer long since shut down, she knew she loved him.

_Now I just have to be brave enough to tell him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea to send Kayla and Reggie to Universal Studios was 100% inspired by pearlcaddy’s [Wizarding World of Food Service](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013403) universe, because in case you didn’t know I love it very much.
> 
> Giselle’s peasant pas is one of my favourite things to dance. Here’s the Paris Opera Ballet’s version — the part I have Kayla dancing is the finale of the peasant girl, [here](https://youtu.be/ZOIIdH5-2VY?t=2023), though she’d have to adapt it slightly to do it as a solo, and [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEX_KCIBV9o) are Odile’s 32 fouettes from Swan Lake. They’re considered one of the most bravada things a ballerina can do (they also turn up in Don Quixote, but the Swan Lake version is more famous).


	9. Chapter 9

“Soooo,” said Flynn as she appeared next to Julie’s locker on Monday morning. “How was your daaate?”

“I already texted you about it,” Julie said. “And Facetimed you. Several times.”

“Yes, but I couldn’t see your face then, and I can now. I want to see all the expressions as you tell me how wonderful Luke is at watching movies, how wonderful he is at eating dinner, how wonderful he is at walking on the beach…”

“Yeah, well I want to hear about your date with Carrie,” said Julie. _Let’s see how you like being the one interrogated_ , she thought. “And why I had to learn about it from my dad.”

“It was pretty fun,” Flynn shrugged. “We ran around town with these old shoes, taking photos like it was two ghosts out on a date.”

“...I mean, most of our ghost friends were out on dates,” Julie said. 

Flynn grinned. “It’s where I got the idea.”

“It was an okay idea,” interrupted Carrie. Julie and Flynn turned to see the other girl standing behind them, looking perfect as usual. “But I think I could do better.”

“Oh do you?” asked Flynn, her head cocked in a clear challenge.

 _What is happening?_ thought Julie, looking between the former-possibly-still enemies with puzzlement.

“Yeah, I do. Rematch this Friday, Ryder. If you’re brave enough.”

“Oh, I’m brave enough, Wilson. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.”

“Be prepared to be knocked out of your socks,” Carrie smirked before sashaying down the hallway.

“Okay, whatever she comes up with, I need your help to beat it,” whispered Flynn. “There’s no way I’m going to let her come up with the best date.”

* * *

“Diving with sharks?” Kayla asked, not believing what she was hearing. “Really?” She floated down from where she was helping Alex hang fairy lights around the chairs hanging from the ceiling of the studio.

“Really,” said Julie as she arranged flowers and candles below them. “Flynn’s saying it’s a metaphor for them as young women striving to succeed in a sea of patriarchy. Carrie says it’s because diving with sharks is much cooler than feeding giraffes at the zoo like they did last week. Then again, that might also be an excuse, because as a kid Carrie thought sharks were cool.” 

“I’ve lost track of who is trying to outdo who at this point,” Kayla said as she touched the ground. “It’s been weeks.”

“Should we just...tell them it’s okay that they’re dating? That they’re allowed to like each other?” asked Alex, and both Julie and Kayla shook their heads emphatically.

“No way,” said Julie. “It’s far too much fun watching them try and outdo each other.”

“Also, it’s giving Carrie something to focus on other than her dad,” Kayla explained. “Which can only be good for her. Carrie doesn’t do well with introspection. She always needs to be moving and doing, or she gets really melancholy.”

“ _Just_ like a shark. Speaking of Carrie,” said Julie, and Kayla _instantly_ regretted all of her life choices. “When are you going to apologise to her?”

“When she actually lets me get near her,” Kayla admitted. “I know I need to apologise. However angry I was that she dumped _Dirty Candy_ right before a performance, I know I hurt her worse with the whole ghost-spying thing.”

“You both hurt each other,” said Alex. “And, like, you’re both terrifying, so please don’t kill me for saying that.”

“You’re only scared of us because we’re girls,” Kayla said, trying to shift the conversation away from the implosion of her friendship with Carrie, but Alex didn’t laugh.

He nodded instead, saying “Yep, correct,” very earnestly. “Girls are the most terrifying thing in the world, right after spiders and poisoned hotdogs.”

Kayla didn’t remember boys actually being this sweet in the 90s. The boys from _Sunset Curve_ were something else.

They stepped back to look at the studio, the flowers and candles and pillows they’d arranged on a blanket on the floor glowing in the light from dozens of fairy lights.

“Alex, it’s so pretty!” Julie said. Kayla agreed, and hoped that Reggie would do something like this for her one day.

Or maybe, she’d do something like this for him. They’d spent most nights together since she’d danced for him, walking Annabelle through the quiet streets, watching TV together, catching Reggie up on 25 years of pop culture...the sweet boy genuinely did think that ‘Netflix and chill’ just meant cuddling while watching TV, and Kayla _loved_ it. 

_One day, we’ll take it further_ , she promised herself. _We’ll do this whole rose petals and candles thing, just like Alex and Willie. But not now. Not yet. We have the time_.

“Hey, Alex,” Julie said, stopping and looking up at their friend. “You don’t have to do this, you know that, right? You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. When Willie gets here, if you change your mind, that’s okay. You can stop.”

Alex looked mortified. “Um, um, what do you think we’re going to do?”

Julie stared at him, and Kayla snorted. “Alex, this entire place looks like the honeymoon suite from a Netflix Christmas movie.”

“I didn’t...I...I just wanted it to be romantic, oh god, what if he expects something, what if he doesn’t expect-” Alex was well on his way to a panic attack and Julie stepped forward to fold him into a hug.

“Alex, it is romantic. It’s lovely. You and Willie can just sit, and talk, and eat the strawberries and the champagne that I don’t want to know how Kayla got.”

“Sticky fingers,” she shrugged. “Perks of being a ghost.” _Honestly, you asked me to help you get roses, champagne and strawberries and you didn’t think you were trying to get laid? Alex, you complete moron_ , Kayla thought.

A knock at the door startled them all, and Willie poked his head through the wood. “Hey, Hotdog,” he said with a smile. “Woah, this place looks rad!” Willie said as he pulled his way into the studio proper. “Did you do this for me?” he asked, beaming at Alex as he did so, and Kayla and Julie crept out of the studio, leaving them to it.

“So what’re you guys up to tonight?” asked Kayla.

“There’s a salsa night at the community center in town,” Julie said. “Going to see how many times Luke steps on my feet.”

“I don’t think he’ll be too bad,” mused Kayla. “You guys know how to move together, I’ve seen that on stage enough times. And the twins said he was a pretty good dancer when they danced with him at the Club.”

“He danced with who at your club?” Julie asked, her voice dark, and Kayla hurried to explain. 

“It was just the once, that first time the boys visited. The twins moved in on Luke and Reggie, while Caleb distracted Alex with Brad and Kevin. Our job was to tempt them, to make them want to stay. But it didn’t work — they were already too enamoured by you. Luke especially,” Kayla said, nudging Julie gently as they climbed the stairs out of the yard. “I promise, you’re the only person Luke has danced with since then. Or has wanted to dance with, anyway.”

Julie looked reassured, and when Kayla saw how Luke’s face lit up when Julie came down from her room after changing into a pretty dress and tucking a rose behind her hair for their date, Kayla couldn’t help but smile at them.

“So, what are we doing tonight?” Reggie asked as they wandered down the road from the Molinas’ house. “I found a place where you can learn to toss your own pizzas, if you wanted to try that?”

Kayla kissed Reggie on the cheek. “I love that idea, and next time, definitely. But for tonight...how do you feel about a bit of light breaking and entering?”

Reggie looked _super_ uncertain, and Kayla hurried to explain.

“It’s the Club. With Caleb missing, no one’s been there for ages. I thought it would be a good time to see if we can try and find some of the contracts Caleb has with lifers — I know Julie and Carrie have been struggling to work out how to free Carrie, so maybe if we can find more people who’ve also been trapped into deals, we can get allies. They might be able to help?”

 _And if I come to Carrie with a peace offering, maybe she’ll listen to me_ , Kayla thought as she and Reggie stole through the shadows in Caleb’s office, Reggie humming the James Bond theme song as they did so.

* * *

Julie wanted to put her head in her hands and groan, but Ms. Harrison already looked like she was at the end of her rope and Julie didn’t want to make the situation worse.

Instead, she started to hum, very quietly, trying to project calming vibes around the room with her magic. She had no idea if it would work, but anything was better than listening to Carrie and Kayla argue about everything _but_ what they actually wanted to argue about.

Kayla glared at Julie, but the rest of the room looked more relaxed, so Julie figured it was working. Mrs. Harrison finally managed to get a word in and announce their homework assignment just as the bell rang, and Julie’d never seen the music room empty so quickly.

Carrie shoved her things in her bag, tears brimming in her eyes, and Flynn stopped beside her.

“Hey, Carrie,” Flynn said softly. “She didn’t mean it.”

 _Exactly the wrong thing to say, Flynn_ , Julie thought as Carrie narrowed her eyes and started to yell.

“Like hell she didn’t mean it! She always means it! She’s nothing more than a spy, and a traitor, and a backstabber, and —” she choked on a sob, and Flynn pulled Carrie into a hug.

Julie had had enough. She kicked at Kayla’s seat. “Fix this,” she hissed. 

Kayla looked like she was about to object, and Julie shook her head. “I mean it, Kayla. It’s been weeks. It’s gone on long enough.”

Kayla nodded, and looked at the ground. “Carrie?” she said, her voice soft. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Carrie snapped. “Sorry for spying on me? For lying to me?”

“Yeah,” said Kayla. “I’m sorry for spying on you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I was, or why I became your friend in the first place. But I’m not sorry that I was sent here. I’m not sorry for being your friend.”

“Are you my friend?” asked Carrie. “Were you ever my friend? Or was the whole thing a lie?”

Kayla shrugged. “I thought you were my friend. I didn’t want to like you — if he knew I actually liked you, Caleb could use you against me. But I did like you. I do like you. I miss being your friend. I’m really sorry.”

“Did you have to go along with it?” Carrie asked. “Did you have to keep spying on me? Encouraging me to sing and dance so he could _feed_ on me?”

“I didn’t want to, but I didn’t have a choice,” said Kayla.

“You always have a choice,” spat Carrie. “You’re dead. He can’t make you do anything.”

“He can hurt me,” said Kayla. “Julie can attest to that — she saw the jolts the boys got. And he can hurt the people I love. It’s happened before. There was a girl in the 70s — her mother had made a deal with Caleb for fame and fortune, just like your father did. Everytime Sam sang, or danced, or played an instrument, Caleb got a boost, just like he does with you. And when I tried to stop it, when I tried to keep Sam safe, to keep her from being food for Caleb, to let her just be a normal teenager...Roman Polanski was a member of the HGC. I’ll leave you to fill in the blanks.”

Julie frowned. She knew that name, but from where?

“Kayla,” said Carrie, sounding horrified. “You don’t mean…”

“When I said the ghosts were the entertainment, it doesn’t stop at singing and dancing,” Kayla said. “A lot of rich men will pay a lot of money to do things to teenage girls, especially if the girl can never go to the police because she’s already dead. Especially if there’s no body to leave evidence on because the girl’s already a ghost,” Kayla hugged herself and Julie started to hum again, willing her magic to help Kayla feel better. 

“Some of the men who saw _Dirty Candy_ perform...they really like teenage girls. Caleb gave me a choice with you, the same choice he gave me back in ‘77. And this time, I chose to protect my lifer friend. After all, I’m already a ghost.” Kayla tried to smile and it was the saddest thing Julie had ever seen. “They can’t hurt me. Not really. Not like they can hurt you.”

“Kayla,” breathed Carrie, horrified. “I...I didn’t know.”

“You weren’t meant to,” said Kayla. “You were never meant to know.”

“I’m sorry,” said Carrie, standing up and slowly walking over to Kayla. “I’m sorry for not knowing, I’m sorry for being angry, I’m sorry for cutting you and the others out before that show with no warning...and I’m sorry for all the times I was a bitch, or didn’t listen to your ideas. I’m just...I’m really fucking sorry.” She was crying by the end of it, and Flynn came over to sit beside Julie.

Julie and Flynn leaned on each other, sniffling their own tears as Carrie and Kayla apologised and forgave and apologised again.

* * *

At the end of the day, they were teenage girls, and so after they’d cried themselves to blotchiness, they did what teenage girls have always done…

...pile into Julie’s room for a sleepover, having firmly told the boys to stay out.

Julie’d even sung a ward into place, and only felt slightly guilty when she watched Reggie reach out and poke at it, definitely blocked from coming in.

“Sorry Reg,” she said. “Girls’ night.”

“I understand,” he said with a small smile as Kayla blew him a kiss. “Butterflies and glitter, right?”

“More like chocolate and terrible movies, but yes,” Julie said. “There may be some glitter. We’ll see you in the morning for band practice, okay?”

“Do I even want to know what kind of trouble the boys are going to get into without their functioning brain cells to keep an eye on them?” asked Carrie when they’d shut the door and the room was safely boy-free.

“Nope. Pass the cookies and cream, I want some,” Flynn said.

“They’ll be fine,” said Julie. “They’re ghosts. They’re kinda unbreakable at this point. At least, permanently unbreakable. Oh, god,” she groaned, thinking back to what Kayla had literally _just_ confessed in the music room, and Kayla snorted.

“It’s fine, Jules. I know what you meant.”

“Reggie hasn’t tried anything, has he?” Carrie suddenly asked, sitting up and glaring at the door where the boy had just been. “Because if he has, I’ll kill him.”

“No, no,” said Kayla. “He’s been a perfect gentleman. No complaints from me. Honestly, most nights we actually just...fall asleep together. It’s really nice.”

* * *

“It feels like ages since I’ve seen you at night,” Luke said, kicking at a rock as he and Reggie wandered the streets of Los Feliz. “You’re always out with Kayla.”

“We hang out all day!” said Reggie. “Besides, you’re always out with Julie. Or writing songs with Julie. Or just...staring up at her window when Julie’s doing her homework.”

Luke blushed. “Shut up,” he grumbled. “But seriously, I...I don’t want us to drift apart, you know? You guys are my family. It’s bad enough Alex spends so much of his time with Willie; now you have Kayla and I have Julie...I dunno. It feels like it’s all different.”

“It _is_ different,” Reggie said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. We died together, dude. We spent 25 years in a dark room listening to Alex cry together! We're family. That'll never change. Things with me and Kayla are just new right now, like things are with you and Julie. It’s okay if things are new.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Luke said. “It’s just...once Julie goes to bed, there’s no one around. You’re always with Kayla, Alex spends the nights with Willie...it’s kinda lonely. I didn’t expect the afterlife to be so lonely.”

Reggie stole the rock from Luke. “Aw, you should have said! I’ll make sure I spend more nights in the studio with you. We can even cuddle, if you want.”

“Yeah, no, you snore.”

“No, I sleep like an angel. _Alex_ snores.”

“No, it’s definitely you.”

“Liar!” Reggie leapt at Luke, knocking him onto the grass, and they tumbled over, trading half-hearted punches and noogies. Eventually, they lay there panting on the grass underneath a tree that had pretty white flowers, and Luke wondered how they’d look in Julie’s hair. _Probably really pretty,_ he thought. _Then again, everything she wears is pretty_.

“Hey Luke...if you could become human again, would you want to?” asked Reggie.

“What made you think of that?”

“There was a show Kayla showed me. At the end, the guy who is a ghost becomes human again so he can be with the woman he loves. Julie’s a witch — do you think she could make you human?”

“Oh man, I have no idea,” said Luke. “Yeah, I...I have no idea.”

 _If you were human, you could marry her_ , the voice in his head said. _You could marry her, and grow old with her, and never have to worry about her growing up and leaving you behind because you could go_ with _her. You could have a life together._

“But...what about you guys?” Luke said, stalling for time. “I wouldn’t want to leave you guys.”

“I dunno,” said Reggie. “I haven’t really thought about it. It’s easier for me and Alex. We’re already dating ghosts.”

They lay in silence, listening to the constant background traffic of LA and the chirping of some nearby bugs.

“Hey Luke...I wrote a song for Kayla,” Reggie said, sitting up. “Can I play it for you? You’re better with lyrics than I am.”

“Yeah man, go ahead,” Luke nodded.

Reggie summoned his rarely-played acoustic and started to strum.

_Brown eyed ballerina  
God only knows how much I need ya  
From day one I knew you were the one  
Give me your hand and I'll give you mine  
You're the reason I look forward to coming home at night..._

It seemed to Luke that even the traffic had fallen silent to listen to Reggie sing about Kayla.

_...What's the point of sleep if it's not with you  
Your lipstick on my cheek looking like a tattoo  
My ballerina swinging side to side  
All I need is a little love and care tonight_

_Brown eyed ballerina  
God only knows how much I need ya  
From day one I knew you were the one_

Reggie’s voice and playing faded off, and Luke was speechless. “Dude,” he finally said. “No notes. It’s perfect. Man...maybe I should take another look at _Home Is Where Your Horse Is_ ,” he grinned, and Reggie launched into his beloved country song.

* * *

“And while we’re at it — Julie, that enchantment you did earlier, in the music room? I know you were only trying to help, but you can’t just magic people like that, without their permission.”

“That might be a problem, if Julie’s magic is linked to her voice,” said Flynn as she scrolled through her phone to find the ‘perfect beats’ for their girls’ night. 

“Well, you’ve obviously figured out how to get spells to stay up when you’re not actually singing,” said Carrie, gesturing at the door where the faint sparkle let them know the anti-ghost-boy ward was still up. “Maybe you could, like, enchant a bracelet or something to stop you from accidentally magicing people? You can slip it off when you need to use your witchy powers, but not risk it when you’re singing at school. Because if you enchant your way into better grades than me, I will kill you.”

“No murder,” said Flynn firmly. “I’m way too awesome to visit you in prison.”

“What makes you think I’d want you to visit?” asked Carrie, and Flynn snorted.

“Like you can live without me.”

 _I’m not going to dignify that one with an answer_ , Carrie thought as she poked her way through a bag of sour candy, trying to fish the delicious sour peaches out from the inferior sour apples.

“Hey, Kayla, what was your plan for when we got older?” she asked, definitely changing the topic. “Eventually someone would have noticed that the purple _Candy_ wasn’t aging while the rest of us were.”

“Like you’d still need _Dirty Candy_ , like, two years out of high school,” Kayla said. “I figured you’d just Beyoncé your way into superstardom and I’d fade into the background, a cherished high school memory. Maybe fake my death if you were still holding on for ‘legitimacy’ to your roots, though this is LA. Having LA as your background doesn’t sell as well as a Christmas Tree farm from Pennsylvania. Better just to forget where you came from.”

“That’s...harsh,” Flynn said, and Kayla shrugged.

“That’s Hollywood.”

“Wait...Beyoncé my way into superstardom?” said Carrie, something tugging at the back of her mind.

“Yeah, you know — nobody really remembers _Destiny’s Child_ anymore. There’s Beyoncé, and then, like, the other not-Beyoncé ones. The ones no one cares about.”

“Mean,” said Julie. “But not incorrect.”

“It’s just weird,” said Carrie. “You’re the second person to tell me that recently. Like, word for word, those exact sentences. ‘Nobody really remembers _Destiny’s Child_ anymore. There’s Beyoncé, and then, like, the other not-Beyoncé ones. The ones no one cares about.’ Then they followed it with ‘You’re the Beyoncé of _Dirty Candy_ , Carrie. You’re better than them. This song will show everyone that.’”

“Who said that?” asked Julie, and Carrie closed her eyes before answering. 

“Nick.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really love Jeremy’s song _Ballerina_. I had to borrow it. I did so with love.


	10. Chapter 10

_You are strong, you are confident, you are glorious, and he’s a nasty bit of scum not worthy of kissing your shoe_. Carrie repeated the words Flynn had said to her that morning as she walked up to Nick.

It had been long enough. Time to get this over with.

“Nick?” she said, interrupting his conversation with some guys from the theatre department, which was...weird. He wasn’t wearing his letterman jacket either, which was even weirder.

Carrie remembered the day he’d gotten his jacket for lacrosse. He’d been really happy, and they’d gone to get frozen yogurt to celebrate since his parents were out of town and his sister’s nanny wasn’t his biggest fan.

His parents always out of town, her dad trying and failing to recapture his past (stolen) glory...it was no wonder she and Nick lasted for so long, Carrie realised. _We’re just two lonely kids who needed someone to stand by us_.

But Nick hadn’t stood by her when she needed him, and Carrie wanted to know why.

“Can we talk?” she asked with a sweet smile. 

“Look who's back for another ride on the Nickmobile,” Nick leered at her, and Carrie flinched.

_That’s not right. Nick would never._

“No, you left some stuff at my house and I want to know when your worthless ass is going to come and pick it up. Or should I just put it out with the trash, like you so obviously are?” she sniped.

He glared, and the theatre guys laughed, and Nick grabbed her arm — hard — and pulled her around the corner.

“You don’t get to speak to me like that anymore,” he said, and Carrie scoffed.

“You don’t get to manhandle me. Not now, not _ever_. But before I truly give up on your worthless ass, I want to know — why’d you do it? Why’d you steal that song from Julie? Because I know it’s stolen. Don’t even try to lie.”

Nick looked pleased. “I was wondering how long it was going to take you to start singing that tune. It’s a good song, isn’t it? So...powerful. And as for why I stole it,” he leaned close and Carrie swore she saw his eyes flash purple. “I have a fight too,” he said. “If only one act comes out of Los Feliz High, it’s going to be you and _Dirty Candy_ , not Julie and her 90s rejects. Giving you that song was just me protecting my investment.”

* * *

“Caleb is hiding in Nick,” said Carrie as she stormed into the studio, and Luke felt his stomach drop.

“How are you so sure?” asked Alex. “I mean, I trust you, but...how do you know?”

“I finally confronted him about _Wake Up_ ,” Carrie said. “He started talking about how it’s a powerful song, and then his eyes flashed purple, and said something random about a fight,” she ticked off on her fingers. “He then called you guys ‘90s rejects’ —”

“Rude,” muttered Reggie.

“— which, like, he shouldn’t have known because everyone still thinks you’re holograms, and finally, he called me his investment. And who else do we know who called me his investment?”

“Caleb is hiding in Nick,” Julie agreed, and the rest of the gang nodded. 

“I’m surprised you didn’t feel him at school,” said Flynn to Kayla. “Shouldn’t you have picked up on that?”

Willie shook his head and answered for her. “When Caleb hides in a person, he hides deep. You can walk right up to him, touch him, and you don’t know it’s Caleb.”

“That’s creepy. And not helpful,” Alex summarised, and Reggie nodded.

“Super not helpful.”

 _I bet I was picking up on his Caleb-ness_ , Luke thought. _Like, I knew I didn’t like the guy. He gave off weird vibes. Maybe Willie and Kayla are just too used to Caleb to feel him_.

Luke carefully didn’t listen to the little voice that suggested maybe he didn’t like Nick because Nick had taken Julie out on a date, because Luke had taken Julie out on _several_ dates and they were _dating_ and it was _official_ and Nick could eat his whole ass.

“Then I guess we’re going to have to work out how to get Caleb out of Nick,” Julie said, and Luke did not like that _at all_.

“Why?” Luke asked. “I mean, it sucks and all, but it seems to me that if he’s hiding in Nick, he’s not causing trouble elsewhere, right? So why don’t we leave him there?”

Julie looked horrified and Luke immediately felt bad. He started to stutter an apology when Alex smacked him around the back of the head.

“Ignore him, Julie. Someone’s just a little jealous because of the date you and Nick went on. Luke, friends don’t let friends stay possessed by evil ghosts, okay? It’s not very 2020 of you to even suggest it,” Alex said sternly.

“Yeah, get woke!” said Reggie, and Luke still wasn’t sure that was exactly how that word was meant to be used, but whatever.

There was only one way to redeem himself. “Okay, yeah,” Luke said. “Let’s get Caleb out of Nick.”

* * *

“Hey, Nick?” asked Julie, her heart in her throat. “I was wondering...I’ve been working on a new song, and I’d like your opinion on it. Do you have a moment?”

“Sure,” he said with a smile, turning away from the theatre kids he was chatting to.

 _Play it cool, Julie_ , she thought to herself as she led him to the music room. “I heard you quit the lacrosse team?”

“Yeah, I decided it wasn’t really my thing anymore,” said Nick, and if Julie didn’t already know Caleb was controlling Nick this would have confirmed it for her. Nick _loved_ lacrosse to a quite frankly puzzling degree. _I do not understand people who like sports_ , she thought, but as usual kept that thought to herself.

“That’s too bad,” said Julie as she took a seat at the piano. Across the room the door clicked shut, and a flash of dark hair let Julie know that Flynn was out in the corridor. “I always liked how you were cool with being both a musician and an athlete.”

“Sometimes you just gotta choose,” he said, leaning on the piano with a grin.

Julie tried to grin back, but her heart wasn’t in it. _I know all about your idea of a choice, creep_ , she thought as she started to play.

The boys poofed in, already playing, their music leaning strength to hers and to Julie herself.

“How did you get your holograms in here?” Nick said, raising his voice above her singing, and it was Luke who answered.

“Give up, Caleb. We know it’s you.”

Kayla and Willie poofed in, and moved to block the door when Nick tried to run for it.

Willie was strong, but Nick was stronger, and just as Julie thought he was going to break through Kayla sliced her foot out and kicked him in the balls. He doubled over, calling her a whore, and Julie had had enough. She’d felt the power building around her with every note she and her boys had played and sung together, and she poured that power towards Nick, willing Caleb out of him.

Sparks began to swirl around Nick, and he began to cough and choke. “Julie!” he said. “You’re hurting me! Why are you hurting me? Julie, stop, please!”

 _You’re not Nick,_ she thought to herself. _It’s time for you to stop being in Nick_. 

Retching, Nick fell to his hands and knees, and purple smoke curled out of his mouth. Julie focused on that smoke, _pulling_ it out of him with her magic, and with an otherworldly shriek a man in an old-fashioned suit, top hat and cape stood beside Nick, who slumped to the floor.

Julie stopped singing and playing, the boys only a beat behind her.

“Well well,” the man said. “Clever rabbit. We haven’t been introduced. Caleb Covington, at your service,” he finished with a neat bow.

“What do you want, Caleb?” cut in Luke. “Why did you possess that kid?”

“I’ve been in enough movies to know that monologuing never goes well,” Caleb smirked. “So instead, I’m just going to do this.” He snapped his fingers, and Willie and Kayla doubled over and cried out in pain as jolts hit them. 

“Stop!” yelled Julie, gathering her voice to sing something, _anything_ , even _Happy Birthday_ would probably work, and Caleb laughed.

“No, I don’t think I will,” he said, and chains wrapped around Willie and Kayla as they shuddered and screamed from jolt after jolt. “I’ll let them go, on one condition,” he said, his voice dark. “ _Julie and the Phantoms_ becomes my house band.”

* * *

Julie wanted to cry. _How did it go so wrong?_ They’d gotten Caleb out of Nick, but now Kayla and Willie were gone. She curled herself closer to Luke on the studio couch, and her ghost held her tight as they watched Alex pace in front of them.

Carrie and Flynn were at the piano, the contracts Kayla and Reggie had stolen from Caleb’s office spread across it’s shiny surface as they scoured them, trying to find something they could use in their fight against Caleb, or someone who could help Nick. Every time they came across a name they’d google it, to try and figure out who the people are who’d become members of the HGC.

Her dad had taken Nick to a free clinic — Nick had looked pale and awful, he could barely string together two words, and everyone was worried for him. None of them had known what to do, so they’d called her dad. Her dad had taken Nick to the clinic without asking too many questions, but they knew they needed a more permanent solution.

Because if you try to explain to most therapists that yes, you really had been possessed by a ghost for several months, and he royally fucked up your life, then that was a one-way ticket to crazyland. So they were trying to find someone who knew about ghosts. Someone who would believe them. Someone who could help them.

 _Someone_. Anyone.

 _We’re just kids_ , Julie thought. _How are we going to pull this off?_

“Do you think your Abuela could help?” asked Luke softly, and Julie shook her head.

“I already asked her, back when we first worked out we were going to have to confront Caleb. Her magic’s more passive than mine — ‘it’s all about home and hearth, _mija_.’ She said she’s strong on the warding and health and harmony, but less good in situations where you have to be active and reactive. And we’re going to have to be pretty active to get Willie back.”

“We have to get Willie back,” said Alex as he paced. “That’s not even a question.”

“And Kayla,” said Carrie, and Alex snapped his fingers and pointed at her.

“Yeah, what she said.” He turned and kept pacing.

Julie pulled away from Luke slightly. She felt bad that she got to cuddle with her boyfriend when his was who knows where. _Probably deep under the HGC, being tortured_ , she thought.

“Alex, it’s okay. I know you’re worried -”

“Worried? Worried? No, I passed worried a while ago and now I’m in full-on PANIC. We have to get them back. We have to. This is all my fault, I should have stayed away from Willie, I knew Caleb had it out for us and that he could hurt Willie, but I really liked Willie and I didn’t want to stay away from him and now Willie’s being tortured and it’s all my fault.”

“Well that’s just stupid,” Carrie said, stalking over and planting herself in front of Alex, forcing him to a halt, and not for the first time Julie thought the two blondes looked kinda similar. “None of this is your fault. Seriously. Quite frankly, you’re not that important.”

Alex looked offended, but Carrie barrelled on. “Caleb is the asshole who made the choice to steal souls and trap people and torture people. This is all on him. You’re allowed to like people, Alex. And while you’re important to us — and yes, you’re important to me, all of you morons have grown on me to a _concerning_ degree — the universe does not revolve around you, okay? Now get your head out of your ass, and since sitting still seems to be beyond you right now, do you think you can find the other ghosts that performed with you at school? Because they might have some knowledge we can use to figure out a way to get Kayla and Willie back.”

“...you’re helping?”

“Wow, okay, rude. Kayla’s been my best friend since I started high school, no matter how we met, and you and Willie are adorable. Also, this might get me free of Caleb too. Of course I’m helping. Now fuck off and go be useful rather than just wearing a track in the floor.”

Alex poofed out and Carrie relaxed with a sigh. “Dude was freaking me out,” she said, returning to the piano.

 _Or maybe you just didn’t like to see him worrying, because you’re actually really sweet_ , Julie thought.

“Hey Carrie, that’s the end of the contracts,” Flynn said. “We’ve got a bunch of random rich people, tons of actors and musicians, a couple of therapists and psychiatrists, so we can get Nick some help, several doctors, and...one lawyer. And a Supreme Court Justice, but I’m not going near that creep if I can help it.”

She pointed to the name and Carrie leaned over to see — and then stayed leaning on Flynn’s arm, and once again Julie found herself wondering how much of Flynn and Carrie’s ridiculous dates were about them trying to one-up each other, and how much was because these girls actually liked each other somehow. _Enemies to friends to lovers?_ Julie thought.

“Only one lawyer made a contract with Caleb?” Julie asked. “I would have thought more would have.”

“I mean, they’re pretty shitty contracts,” said Carrie, casting a practiced eye over them. “All the power is on one side. Any lawyer rich enough to afford the membership fees is probably also smart enough to know that this isn’t worth it, which makes this guy all the more interesting.” She fanned through a bunch of the contracts. “Huh. He’s also a signatory as a witness to a bunch of other contracts, including this one.” Julie couldn’t see what Carrie’d found, but the blonde looked delighted. “I think I’ve just found my lawyer for my emancipation declaration,” she said, before being interrupted by Flynn’s phone ringing.

They all stared at it. _Who on earth calls anyone anymore?_

Flynn grabbed it and checked the screen. “It’s Reggie,” she said as she answered it. “Hey Reggie, what’s going on? Where are — you’re where? Why? Can’t you just poof back here?” She was silent for a moment, and looked increasingly confused. “Okay, sure. Send me the address and I’ll come get you.”

She hung up and her phone beeped when the address came through. “Hey guys, any idea why Reggie wants me to go to some random place in Silver Lake?”

* * *

This part of town was _seriously_ sketchy, but Reggie had sounded really desperate on the phone and Flynn was a good bro, so here she was, carefully steering Veronica down an alleyway and hoping like hell she wouldn’t get carjacked. She looked over and confirmed that she’d locked the passenger door, just in case.

She eased to a stop at the address she’d been given, and killed the lights and locked Veronica behind her before knocking on the door.

It opened almost immediately, Reggie standing there with his eyes red and tears still visible on his face, and a puppy in his arms.

“Oh, she’s precious,” said Flynn, all plans of asking Reggie why he was here flying out of her head as she looked at the cute little Frenchie licking the tears from Reggie’s chin.

“Her name is Annabelle,” Reggie sniffled. “She’s Kayla’s. After school, we usually pick her up from daycare together, and then we come back here, but now it’s just me, and Kayla isn’t here and I didn’t know what to do,” he said, fresh tears falling down his face. “I want to be with the others but I don’t want to leave Annabelle here without her mom and I don’t know if I can poof with her without hurting her.”

Flynn reached out to let Annabelle sniff her hand, and smiled when the little dog licked her. “I am 100% okay with being used as a puppy Uber,” she said. “Let’s take her back to the Molinas’. I’m sure Mr. Molina won’t mind. Does she have any stuff you want to take too?”

* * *

_When did life get so complicated?_ Ray wondered. _Ghost bands, ghosts possessing people, ghosts kidnapping other ghosts that the ghosts in my family are dating...and a bunch of kids stuck in the middle of it._ My _kids._

Ray sighed as he pulled up to the house, Nick silent in the car alongside him. The house was dark, but the lights in the studio were still on, so he led the boy straight there.

Unsurprisingly, even Carlos was there, despite it being well past his bedtime. His son didn’t even try to look guilty about that one.

“Dad!” Julie said, bounding up off the couch to hug him. “Hey, Nick,” she said as Ray hugged her tight. “Are you okay?”

“Not really?” said Nick with a grimace. “Like, physically, I’m kinda okay, but mentally…”

He looked completely haggard and Ray rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder, encouraging him to lean in for comfort if he wanted to. “We’ll find you someone to talk to,” he said. “I know you wanted to check on the others, but should I take you home now? Won’t your parents worry?”

“My parents haven’t been home for weeks,” Nick said. “I’m used to it by now. And Adelaide doesn’t really care where I am. She’s only there for Hannah.”

 _Dios mío, do none of these children have people on their side?_ Ray thought. He knew that Flynn’s parents were currently fighting, Carrie wasn’t speaking to her dad and was spending more nights sleeping on Julie’s floor than was probably healthy — especially since after his suegra had gone home and they got their spare room back and Carrie could sleep in an actual bed but kept choosing an air mattress on Julie's floor — and Reggie had told him enough about his parents that part of Ray really wanted to travel back to 1995 and punch someone.

So far, he’d resisted looking up where the Peters were now, because that way ended in violence and since he was apparently the only legal adult who could be relied on that any of these children had, he wasn’t going to risk it.

“Well, you’re not going there if there’s no one to care about you,” Ray said firmly. “Not right now. We can talk about it in the morning and figure out a better plan.”

“You can share my room if you like?” volunteered Carlos. “We have a spare room, but...my room has snacks. And we can talk sports! Just, don’t look under the bed. It’s really messy.”

 _Oh, Rose,_ Ray thought. _Look at our children. Look at how kind they are_. It was moments like these that he could see his wife in their children. She’d been the same — always so kind, so generous. Always the first one to reach out a hand to provide help.

“Are you sure?” Nick said, swaying on his feet slightly. “I don’t...I might have nightmares,” Nick said. “Some of the stuff Caleb said and did...I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay again.”

“Even more reason you shouldn’t be alone,” Carlos shrugged. “I can wake you up before the nightmares get too bad.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea, _mijo_ ,” Ray said. “But tomorrow is a school day, so all living people, back to the house to get some sleep. Things’ll look different in the morning,” he said.

“Hang on,” said Nick. “Before...before anything else.” He pulled away from Ray to look at Julie. “I’m really sorry about that date, Julie. I...Caleb knew how much I like you, liked you, and he...I’m really sorry he took you on that date. It wasn’t what I wanted. You’d said no, so that was the end of it, but he...yeah. Sorry. I just...I wanted you to know that I didn’t want to, because you’d said you didn’t want to.”

“Thanks, Nick,” Julie said with a sad smile and Ray was _not_ laughing internally at the grumpy look on Luke’s face. “That...that helps. Still, it sucks that my first kiss was with someone possessed by a ghost,” and that was _not_ a detail Ray wanted to know. Ever.

Fortunately for Ray’s sanity, at that moment Flynn and Reggie pushed their way through the doors. “Yay, the gang’s all here,” Flynn said tiredly. “Everyone, meet Annabelle.”

Unfortunately for Ray’s sanity, the sheer glee in Carlos’s eyes when he saw the puppy in Reggie’s arms made him dread the amount of chaos that Carlos, Reggie and a puppy would be bound to create.

Still, as he watched everyone crowd around the puppy, smiles on their faces as they gave her gentle pets and Reggie explained that she was Kayla’s and he was going to look after her while Kayla was gone, Ray couldn’t help but feel hopeful. _Even in the midst of all this pain and fear, they can still smile_ , he thought. _God, this is so far beyond me,_ he thought, a quote from one of Rose’s favourite movies running through his head: ‘this is gods and monsters and nothing we were ever trained for’ (Rose’d had a crush on the actor playing Loki. Ray had tried not to be jealous). Ray knew he was out of his depth — that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t fight a ghost when apparently his baby girl could. 

_“There is great power in music,” his suegra had said when he’d come to her with questions about magic. “The power to seduce, to gladden, to enrage, to bring sorrow, and also rest. Even without a musician being magical that power is there. But Julie can tap into that power, and direct it. She’ll be okay,_ mijo _,” and Ray had mock glared at her calling him a boy._ I’m 48! _“I can’t help Julie with her magic, not really. It’s too different from mine. But she can help those ghosts, and she can help others, and I know our Julie. She’s the best of us, and she’ll help whoever she can.”_

He couldn’t fight a ghost for his baby girl, but he could make sure she and her friends got rest and support while they took on the world. 

So that’s what he’d do.

* * *

Jefferson Slant did not get surprised. Ever.

As one of the top lawyers in LA, he prided himself on knowing everything there was to know about his clients, and the world around them, so he could not be surprised.

He’d played 3D chess once. It hadn’t been a challenge.

Yet when Matthew announced the name of his next meeting, Jefferson felt a mild sense of surprise. “Carrie Wilson?” he asked. “I’ve never heard of her. Why did you accept a meeting with her for me? Why not pass her off onto one of the associates?”

“She’s Trevor Wilson’s daughter — you know, the rock star?” And that, at least, made sense to Jefferson, even if he’d never heard of this Trevor Wilson. Rock star’s daughters often had a lot of money, and got into a lot of legal troubles that could be very profitable for law firms. “And she did meet with Rosemary, who passed her on to me to meet with you. Apparently, she was very firm — she wanted to meet with Mr. Slant, and no one else. Rosemary judged her to not be full of hot air, so…” Matthew shrugged as his sentence trailed off, an awful habit the young man had, and Jefferson grudgingly accepted that this meeting couldn’t be avoided. _Maybe she’ll bring in some solid profits_ , he thought.

Still, it was strange that she’d picked Morecombe, Slant & Honeyplace. For all that they were based in LA, they didn’t generally have any clients in the entertainment set — apart from one.

And that was more of a...personal favour, really. Jefferson kept that one off the books. There was no money in it anyway.

When Matthew waved Miss Wilson in, Jefferson was curious. She didn’t look like the type of rock star’s daughter that would need legal representation. She was dressed modestly and not drunk for starters. Her skin and eyes were clear, and he couldn’t see any tattoos.

She also looked very young, but polished, and took her seat with the type of poise that made Jefferson raise his estimation of her slightly.

“Mr. Slant,” she said with a smile. “Thank you for accepting my meeting. I know you must be busy, however I thought you’d be the perfect person to help me with my emancipation declaration.”

“We don’t handle that type of work, Miss Wilson,” he said. “You would be best to find a lawyer that specialises in juvenile matters.”

“Oh, are you sure? We have a friend in common. I was sure you could help.”

“A friend?” he asked, searching his vast mental address book to try and work out how his life intersected with this young woman’s.

“Caleb Covington,” she said, and Jefferson sat back in his chair.

 _This girl just got more interesting_.

“I believe you signed a contract with him,” she said, opening her handbag and pulling out a piece of paper. She slid it across the desk to him, and he glanced at it. It was indeed the contract he’d signed with that irritating ghost. 

Covington had needed to buy the building his club was in to stop it getting redeveloped, and Jefferson...Miriam had been so sick. The doctors had said she didn’t have much longer, and Jefferson wasn’t ready to say goodbye. So he signed the deal with Covington — he’d arrange for the club to legally remain in the dead man’s hands, and Jefferson would have a membership to the club so he could visit Miriam whenever he wanted.

The club hadn’t been open for months now, and he missed his wife. He’d been of half a mind to try and sue Covington for breach of contract, but there was nothing in there about the frequency with which the club had to be open.

Also, Jefferson had doubted that any judge in the land would hear the case.

“How did you get a copy of that?” he asked, sliding the contract back. “I imagine you have your own contract with him?”

“I have my sources,” she said. “And no, I don’t. My father is the one with a contract with Caleb — I’m the collateral,” she said, handing him another piece of paper. “Under the terms of this contract, my father signed away his first-born — me — to Caleb Covington.” She was trying for a confident tone, but Jefferson heard the pain underneath her voice. _Poor thing_ , he thought, feeling a moment of sympathy for the girl.

“As I understand it, that would make me Caleb’s ward,” she said, and Jefferson scanned the contract.

“Yes, I believe it could be interpreted that way,” he agreed.

“If I’m his ward, do you think I could also be his heir?” she asked, and Jefferson blinked at her. “Legally, that is,” she said. 

Jefferson sat back in his chair, thinking. “Yes,” he said at last. “That...that is one way that contract could be interpreted.”

“In which case,” she said, “I would like to declare my guardian missing, and claim his assets. All of his assets. Including the Club.”

“No one’s seen him for months,” Jefferson agreed. “That is an argument you could make.”

“A situation I believe may change soon,” Miss Wilson said. “It would be in our best interest — both of our best interests — to get this paperwork tidied away as soon as possible.”

 _If she has the Club, I could see Miriam again,_ Jefferson thought.

“I’ll get right on it, Miss Wilson,” he said with a smile. “Would you also like me to get started on your emancipation documents?”

She smiled back, a bright sunny thing. “That would be perfect, thank you, Mr. Slant. I’m so glad we could come to an agreement.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Morecombe, Slant & Honeyplace_ and Mr. Slant are, of course, the creations of Terry Pratchett (I gave Mr. Slant my own take on his background though). 
> 
> “There is great power in music. The power to seduce, to gladden, to enrage, to bring sorrow, and also rest,” is adapted from Anthony Ryan’s _The Wolf’s Call_.


	11. Chapter 11

Flynn was well aware that systematic racism was a thing in the US. As a black girl, she’d been experiencing its slings and arrows ever since she was born, and she knew the stats.

Mostly, she tried not to let it bother her — _you can’t live life afraid_ , that was her motto. But every so often it smacked her in the face and she couldn’t ignore it.

Sitting in one of Morecombe, Slant & Honeyplace’s reception rooms, waiting for Carrie to be finished with her lawyer, was one of those times.

This place _reeked_ of rich old white men. Paintings of old men in fussy wigs covered the walls and faint music was being piped into the room — it sounded like Vivaldi’s _Four Seasons_ , which was irritatingly pretentious. And not even that good!

_At least the snacks are good_ , she thought, as she filled up a plate of cheese and crackers and poured herself a sparkling water.

...She then set about moving all of the furniture in the room one inch to the right, and rearranging the books on the bookshelves.

When Carrie walked in, Flynn was in the middle of examining the paintings, trying to see if they were alarmed or if she could move them around. 

“All done?” she asked, grabbing a few more chocolate bars from the snack cart and dumping them in her bag.

“Yeah,” said Carrie, her voice sounding funny. 

_Something’s up_ , Flynn thought. _But here is not the place to discuss it_.

So she towed Carrie down to Veronica, and drove them to a quiet lookout.

The same quiet lookout where Flynn had confessed that she no longer wanted to one-up Carrie on dates — she just wanted to date Carrie.

The same quiet lookout where Carrie had laughed, said ‘thank god’, then kissed her.

Flynn was pretty fond of this lookout.

They sat on Veronica’s hood, listening to the waves crashing on the beach below, and Flynn drew Carrie back into a cuddle. Carrie always smelled like raspberries, and Flynn contented herself with just holding Carrie, resting her cheek on Carrie’s blonde hair and gently rocking them from side to side.

Flynn had always struggled to stay still, but somehow, with Carrie in her arms, and all their animosity transformed into fondness, it was easier to be quiet.

To be still.

“One of the documents Mr. Slant got from my dad’s lawyer was my birth certificate,” Carrie said at last.

“Is your birthday wrong? Is Trevor not listed?”

“No, it’s not that...it had my mom’s name on it. I know my mom’s name.”

Flynn pressed a kiss to Carrie’s cheek. “That’s good, right?”

“I don’t know?” said Carrie. “She gave me up. I don’t...my whole life she’s been this mystery. She could have been anyone, anything. She could have been a spy, or a brilliant doctor, or Stevie Nicks, and now...now I know her name, and I can sense the possibilities closing. That this is the beginning of the end of something. It’s weird.”

“Change is scary,” Flynn said, repeating something she’d heard Alex talk about a lot. “It’s okay to feel weird about it.”

“Alice,” said Carrie. “Alice Marguerite Mercer.”

Flynn frowned. “Mercer? Why does that sound familiar?”

“I think there’s a Mercer family that owns, like, a big drug company or something. Maybe I’m related to them?”

“You do not need more money, you have enough from Robert, but no. It’s not that.” Frowning, Flynn pulled out her phone and fired off a text.

When the response came back, her breath hitched. “Hey, Carrie,” she said. When her girlfriend turned to look at her, Flynn held her phone forward. “I think you might be Alex’s niece.”

* * *

The last few months had been really strange. She’d gained a ghost band and a ghost boyfriend, regained a childhood friend, found out she was an actual witch and started casting magic spells...but watching two of her friends learn they were related to each other was definitely one of the stranger things that had happened to Julie recently.

Which was saying something.

“This is weird,” said Alex, pacing around. “Are you sure?”

Carrie held out her birth certificate. “How many Alice Marguerite Mercers do you think were born on February 20, 1986? It’s not exactly a common name.”

“It’s just...my sister was nine when I died. She was just a little kid playing with Barbies, and now...you’re her kid. It’s so weird. You’re older than I ever saw my sister. Wait...when were you born?”

“March 2004,” said Carrie, her face scrunched up, and after some quick math Julie worked out why.

“Your mom was 18 when she had you,” Julie said, trying and failing not to sound horrified. _That’s so young_.

“Alice would have been 17 when Bobby…” Alex blanched rather than finishing the sentence. “I’m going to kill him. He’s dead.”

* * *

They’d managed to talk Alex down from committing murder, at least for now, and he and Carrie had googled Alice. No hits, which was weird.

They’d decided to shelve it for now — Kayla and Willie had been gone for nearly two weeks, and Alex and Reggie were both pretty frantic to get them back.

No matter what relation she was to Alex, the woman who’d walked out of Carrie’s life 16 years earlier could wait a little longer.

Julie looked around the studio where her friends were gathered, Reggie and Luke jamming quietly while Alex helped Nick with his Algebra homework and Flynn and Carrie argued softly about what would be on their English final next week, and felt the absence of Willie and Kayla in their group like a physical weight.

She checked her phone to confirm that Solstice, a time when magic was particularly strong, was this weekend, then coughed lightly. “Hey, guys, I don’t think we can wait much longer. I think this Saturday would be a great night for the HGC to debut its new house band.”

“No,” said Luke. “You can’t be serious about taking up his offer. Julie, he’ll hurt you! I can’t see you get hurt!” he said, poofing over to her side. 

“It’ll be okay, Luke,” she said, placing a hand on his cheek and leaning in to give him a quick kiss. “Because I’m not going to be alone. I’m going to have you guys with me,” she said. “All of you. We’re not alone in this. And anyway,” she said with a smile. “I have a plan.”

* * *

“So, you’ve come to bargain for your friends back,” Caleb sneered. “I knew you would. Luke, Reggie, Alex, welcome back,” he said, and it was only his faith in Julie that stopped Luke from punching Caleb.

Well, that and the tight grip she had on his hand.

“Willie and Kayla have been very sad without you,” Caleb continued, and this time it was Luke gripping Alex’s hand and Julie holding onto Reggie’s that stopped the others from moving forward.

“So much fire, so much passion,” said Caleb. “Oh, I am going to look forward to seeing you on my stage.” He pulled out a contract. “Sign your life away, my dear.”

“I’m not signing my life away,” Julie said sharply, and Caleb just laughed.

“Just a turn of phrase. You young people, so serious,” he said. “It’s just a standard contract, stating I’m taking you on as my house band.”

“In exchange for Kayla and Willie going free,” Julie said. “I don’t see that in here.”

Caleb reached for the contract and made a note, Julie watching carefully as Caleb added “in exchange for the freedom of William Takayama and Kayla Lee” to the contract.

“Complete freedom,” said Julie, pushing it back to him when he tried to get her to sign it, and Luke hated how he had to let go of her hand so she could do that. “Not just freedom from wherever you have them, freedom from you completely. You won’t own a single part of them, not anymore. Those are our terms, or _Julie and the Phantoms_ walks.”

“I won’t need them if I have you,” Caleb shrugged, and added those words to the contract.

Satisfied, Julie signed the contract, and Luke felt Caleb’s magic settle over them again. It _itched_.

“Now, these ratty outfits won’t do,” said Caleb, and with a wave of his hand the boys were back in the outfits Caleb had put them in last time — Reggie in that red brocade jacket, Alex in pink and Luke back in that horrid blue suit.

It was scratchy. It had _sleeves_. He’d burned it after their performance at the Orpheum and now he was stuck in its twin.

But his discomfort was the furthest thing from his mind when he saw how Caleb had dressed Julie. She was in a long, slinky, backless dress that hugged every curve, her hair swept up into something fancy that made her neck look endless, silver and purple earrings reaching down to brush her shoulders. With every breath Julie took, the purple sequins on the dress sparkled and flashed, and if Luke thought for any longer about the slit in the dress that reached up to her hip and showed all of her thigh he was going to have problems.

So he wrenched his eyes away from Julie and glared at Caleb. “She’s only 16, you creep,” he said, and Caleb only laughed at him.

“She might only be 16, but you and I both know how she kisses,” Caleb sneered. “The dress is fine for a wetback like her.” 

Luke saw red and was about to lunge at Caleb when Julie stopped him.

“Luke, don’t,” Julie said. “I’ve heard it all before. Come on, let’s just play and get our friends free.” She turned to Caleb. “We’re ready when you are.”

* * *

“And now, the Hollywood Ghost Club is pleased to announce the debut of our new house band, _Julie and the Phantoms!_ ”

The audience clapped and cheered as Caleb bowed and walked off stage, and Reggie hated every minute of this plan, but it would free Kayla and that’s all that mattered.

He hoped it worked. Otherwise they were trapped here, and Julie was still alive and _she’d_ be trapped here, and she’d die in this stupid club and the world would never know how wonderful she was, and he’d never see Annabelle again, and…

And Reggie could see why Alex paced all the time. It was hard having this many thoughts all happening at once.

“Hi,” said Julie as she sat herself at the piano. “I’m Julie, and these are my Phantoms — Luke, Reggie and Alex.” They poofed onto stage as she said their names. “I hope you like what we’ve got planned for tonight.”

With a bright smile at Caleb, she began to play, and Reggie waited for his cue.

He still thought this song worked better as a solo for Julie and piano, but there was only one song Julie had wanted to sing tonight. The song that’d started it all.

_Here's the one thing I want you to know  
You got someplace to go_

The rest of the band joined in, and Reggie felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to stand as Julie’s power grew. 

With a flash, Kayla and Willie landed on the ground in front of them, looking awful but alive — or at least, as alive as ghosts could look — and Caleb raised his glass at them as if to say ‘I keep my promises’.

It was all Reggie could do to keep playing when his girlfriend was coughing and gasping on the ground, but Julie needed him now. If they got this right, Caleb would never bother anyone again.

Reggie kept his eyes on Caleb and noticed the second his expression changed from a smug smile into a worried frown.

Caleb started to twitch, and Julie poured more power into her voice. 

“No! Stop!” Caleb ordered. “What are you doing?” he cried as _Wake Up_ reached a crescendo and chains locked themselves around Caleb with a crash.

They kept playing softly as Julie spoke. “Your time is up, Caleb,” she said. “I’ve bound your powers. You can’t hurt anyone, not anymore.”

“You may have bound me, but I own _everyone_ in this club!” he shrieked. “Dante! Fuego! Stop her!”

“Except, you don’t own everyone in this club,” came a clear voice, and Reggie grinned as Carrie sashayed down the stairs and onto the dance floor to give Kayla and Willie a hand up. _Braeden came through_ , he realised, seeing the ghost lurking at the top of the stairs, and he nodded at his one-time fling. “I do. You were missing for months, Caleb. Long enough that I, as your legal heir, could claim your assets for my own.”

“Heir?” Caleb shrieked, and Carrie shrugged.

“I mean, you did adopt me as an infant,” she said. “My lawyer, and the Supreme Court Justice he consulted with, agreed that that makes me your heir. So I’ve taken your assets. They’re mine now. This club, all of your contracts...they all belong to me.”

“No! You’re lying! This is my club! My ghosts! I’m ordering you to help me!” Caleb yelled, still struggling, but either Carrie was telling the truth about the contracts and their power or maybe Julie’s power was just that strong, and no one came forward to help Caleb.

Carrie was the only one to move, confidently striding over to the chained ghost. “You fucked up, Covington,” she said. “No one messes with Carrie Wilson _or_ Julie Molina and gets away with it.” She stepped back and nodded at the band, and they smoothly changed tune and started to play louder.

_Don't blink  
No, I don't want to miss it  
One thing, and it’s back to the beginning  
'Cause everything is rushing in fast  
Keep going on, never look back_

Julie never looked away from Caleb, and Reggie thought he could see when her power reached its peak. Caleb started to look victorious, and struggle more, and Reggie…

_I don’t think she can do this one her own_ , Reggie realised.

Reggie always felt better after they’d played together — felt brighter, felt more real and he tried to push that feeling to Julie. Maybe it could help.

Julie’s voice started to grow again, and the chains around Caleb tightened.

Reggie felt a soft touch to his back and glanced over his shoulder. Kayla was there, and Reggie felt energy flowing from her into him, and he tried to send it to Julie to use.

_It’s working! We can help!_ He thought, and the rest of the ghosts seemed to pick up on the movement of energy and came to help too — Willie standing behind Alex, Braeden behind Luke, and the other ghosts coming to form a chain between them all, linking them and their strength and their desire to see Caleb _gone_.

Every word that she sang made Julie’s power build higher and higher, and by the time they reached the part where they all sung the outro together, Caleb was twisting on the floor, becoming smaller and smaller with every word, until he disappeared into nothingness with a sad pop as the last chord faded.


	12. Chapter 12

Julie shut her locker door with a slam. It was _weird_ being back here, like the events of the weekend had never happened.

That she and her friends hadn’t managed to banish a ghost forever, and destroy all the deals he had with the living and the dead.

While a handful of ghosts had decided to cross over, a bunch had seemingly decided to stay around, and Carrie now found herself the legal owner of a bunch of souls — and the Hollywood Ghost Club and all its members. They’d grabbed all of the membership records before they’d left the Club on Saturday night and Julie couldn’t believe some of the names in there. So many people had been part of the Club...so many people that they could now get access too. Musicians, producers, record executives...

“Hey disappointment,” said a familiar voice, and Julie grinned at Flynn. 

“Hey underachiever.”

“God you two are weird,” said Carrie with a roll of her eyes, and Flynn kissed her on the cheek.

“You’re just as weird as us,” Flynn said. “Maybe even more so. After all, at least _my_ bestie is still alive.”

“Whatever,” Carrie said with a flick of her hair. “Someone has to be the Cordelia to this little Scooby Gang.”

“You? Cordelia?” scoffed Kayla, looking a bit drawn and with a wan smile on her face. “I’m the Cordelia of this little group.”

“You’re not even alive!” Carrie said, glaring playfully at Kayla. “Doesn’t that make you, like Oz or something?”

“Mm, I think I’m more of an Angel,” Kayla said, and Carrie immediately disagreed, saying Kayla wasn’t nearly broody or tall enough. 

“You’re more like Jonathan,” Carrie teased, and Julie deeply, _deeply_ regretted the Buffy marathon they’d had on Sunday when they were all crashed out and too exhausted to move. 

That was the last time she let Reggie pick what they watched. His crush on Sarah Michelle Gellar should have remained in the 90s.

“I’m surprised you’re here today,” Julie said to Kayla, putting an end to the mock argument. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Kayla shrugged. “Not really. It was...awful. But, like, I want to get back to normality. And for the past few years, this has been normal, so...I’m here. Mostly. If it gets too much, I’ll bail.”

“Just...please take care of yourself,” Julie said. “You’re kinda important to us.”

“I will, don’t worry.” 

“So you’re serious about dropping out of the music program?” Flynn asked Carrie, sounding uncertain.

“Yeah,” said Carrie. “I am.”

“You know you’d crush the final performance,” Flynn said. “Even without having sung a note in ages.”

“Of course I would, I’m amazing,” said Carrie, and now that Julie knew to look for it, she could see the uncertainty in Carrie’s eyes that the taller girl was trying to mask with a confident tone. 

“Caleb’s gone,” said Kayla. “Your soul isn’t his anymore. You’ll be singing for yourself, not for him.”

“I know,” said Carrie. “But...it’s all weird now. All weird and tangled up. Did I actually ever like singing and dancing? Really? Or did I just do it because I was Trevor Wilson’s daughter? Or because Caleb made it easy? I don’t know. So for now, I’m just going to take a break. I might sing again, or I might not. I might join a band, or I might just occasionally crush it at an open mic night then disappear into the darkness, leaving rumours of my skill and beauty to swirl around LA forever,” and at that moment, Julie knew that that was _exactly_ what Carrie was planning to do.

As they moved down the hallway, Julie checked again that she had her charm bracelet on, to make sure that her performance in class today was just that — a performance, not a spell. She wanted to be a success on her own merit, not because she’d enchanted everyone in the room.

Besides, banishing Caleb had been more draining than Julie liked to admit. She still felt tired from it, even once all the ghosts in the club had channeled their energy to her through her boys and their music.

“But...I do like it when you sing,” said Flynn. “I always have. And even when I thought I hated you, I liked watching you dance.”

Julie giggled at the blush on Carrie’s cheeks, and Carrie coughed before replying. “Well, never say never,” she said. “And besides, we know from Molina over here that you can not play or sing a note in music for an entire year before they boot you from the program.”

“Hey!” she said, and they all laughed.

The students around them gave them weird looks. To outsiders, the break up of _Dirty Candy_ plus the sudden friendship between Julie and Carrie had seemed to happen overnight. The fact that Carrie had dumped Nick and was now dating Flynn, the girl who’d written an entire diss track about her, had just added to the confusion.

“I’m going to keep my seat for now,” Carrie said, drawing them to a halt before entering the music room for their final class of the year. “But I suspect next year, I’ll give it up to someone more deserving. Something tells me three boys from Sweden are going to move here over the summer, because ‘music isn’t worth making unless we’re making it with you, Julie’,” Carrie teased. _Her Luke imitation is awful_ , Julie thought.

“What makes you think a bunch of ghosts would spend their days at school anyway?” asked Julie, trying to stop her giggles.

“If you don’t find a way to magic those boys — and Kayla — back to real life before Christmas, then you’re not the witch I thought you were,” Carrie announced. “Now come on. Let’s get this show over with.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [There's Magic in the Air](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28156803) by [cyquor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyquor/pseuds/cyquor)




End file.
